


Summer of '12

by moviepal01



Category: iCarly
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-07-22
Updated: 2012-07-22
Packaged: 2017-11-10 12:38:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 41,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/466367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moviepal01/pseuds/moviepal01
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone has one summer that changes their lives forever, this is Freddie's. The gang embarks on summer romances that will change them all forever.<br/> Freddie develops a crush on the young wife of a Marine serving overseas as he begins to notice friends in a new light.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. No more Teachers, No more Books

Summer of ‘12  
Chapter 1: No more Teachers, No more Books

The following story is loosely based on the film “Summer of ’42. It is dedicated to Tamathy. You have opened my eyes and allowed me to see that the world is such a beautiful place and shown me just what true love is. Nothing I could say or do could repay you for that, but I will try for the rest of my life to do the same for you!  
A/N: Iomg never happened.

 

Bbbring, Bbbring, Bbbring  
It is three o’clock May twenty-fifth, the last day of junior year of high school. The air is full of energy and the bell ringing is like a starter’s pistol at a track meet.Without waiting for announcements or teachers letting them go students rushed the doors, sometimes looking like a “Three Stooges” routine as three people at once tryto force their way out the door. Freddie Benson sat in his homeroom watching the madness chuckling to himself at the way everyone tried to get out the door so fast. He was looking forward to the summer as much as anyone, but the near manic desire to get out quickly just wasn’t his style. By twenty after the doors and hallways were almost clear and he had no trouble leaving class or going to his locker. Carly and Sam stood waiting for him and they were mad as hell.  
“What the hell nub, took you long enough,” Sam Puckett aka the blonde demon shouted at him as he walked up to the girls.  
“I didn’t feel like getting trampled underfoot when the herd stampeded,” he smiled.  
“Well since you‘re our ride, can we go now?” Carly Shay aka his first crush and now one of his closest friends asked.  
“Ladies your chariot awaits,” he bowed and pointed toward the doors to the parking lot.  
“Whatever nub,” Sam slapped him on top of the head and took off running.  
Freddie smirked and continued on with Carly to his car. He thought of the three months that stretched before them all. It was going to be the last time that they would all be together really. Next summer would be about getting ready for college and such. He knew that most people laughed at some of his quirks and he was ok with being a “nerd” or a “geek”, or a “nub”. He understood his place in the world and was contented with the way his life was going. Despite how Sam treated him most of the time he counted her and Carly as his best friends. There was a bond between them that was much stronger and deeper than even they were aware of.  
The only part of his life that Freddie hated was the fact that he was painfully shy and very unsure of himself around girls (Carly and Sam not withstanding) and as a result he dated very little and spent large amounts of time alone. He was use to that, being an only child of an over-protective mother, he had learned how to be comfortable being alone, he just didn’t enjoy it.  
“I’m so stoked about the end of school party tonight,” Carly smiled and skipped just a little, “Spencer promised he’d stay in his room and let us have full run of the rest of the apartment for the night.”  
“You do know that he has cameras set up in all the make out spots don’t you,” Freddie laughed as he saw Carly’s jaw drop, “You didn’t think he was going to just trust everyone to be responsible did you?”  
“I can’t believe he doesn’t trust us,” Carly fumed.  
“Oh he trusts us, it’s the other kids he doesn’t trust,” Freddie laughed at her, “You do tend to pick the guys who like to make out heavily and he wants to stop that. He’s your brother Carly; to him you’ll always be ten.”  
“Still, he’s going to have to get used to the idea that I’m about to be eighteen years old and not a baby anymore,” she said, poking her bottom lip out just like a little girl does when she doesn’t get her way and causing Freddie to chuckle to himself.  
‘We’re all growing up,’ he thought, ‘When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things,’ that bit of scripture from 1Corinthians 13:11 had stuck in his brain when he was younger. He hadn’t thought of it in years and was at a loss as to why it popped into his head now, no that wasn’t true, he had felt something coming, like his granddad used to do with the shrapnel in his leg just before a storm or snow, he had felt this unknown thing outside himself rushing toward him and he knew that it would change him forever. It both excited and scared him, but it was coming, he just hoped he would be ready for it when it arrived, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things,” ‘One last summer before the world body slams you into adulthood Freddie my boy,’ he thought as he opened the doors for Carly and Sam.  
The ride back to Bushwell was typical, Sam in the front seat rapidly tuning stations looking for songs she liked and then turning the volume up so loud that people in Oregon surely must hear it. ‘At least she is like me,’ he thought, ‘and hates rap with a passion.’ Freddie believed that if you counted rhyming as the elements of a great rapper, then Dr. Seuss was the best rapper of all time,

I do not like green eggs and ham  
I do not like them Sam I am  
Peace out, Biotch!

Freddie smiled to himself at his own clever joke, knowing that he would be the only one who would ever hear it.  
As they stopped at a red light Sam began her second favorite thing to do while riding in his car. She took several pennies out of his ashtray, he always threw any change he go at drive-thru’s in it, and began to roll them across the hood of the car beside her while smiling at the driver of said car. Freddie shook his head and commented, “You’re going to get me killed doing that one day.”  
“Like that would be a huge loss to the world,” Sam grinned and stuck her tongue out at him.  
They had both pretty much tuned out Carly, who was in the backseat chattering away about the party. For her part Carly didn’t seem to notice that no one was listening to her, she was in her own little world. Sam and Freddie weren’t trying to be mean tuning her out, but when Carly got on a roll, she could talk for hours and at such a high rate of speed that if you didn’t tune her out there was a real danger of your head exploding from the sheer force of trying to keep up with her. It was much easier to tune her out and just throw out the occasional “uh hun’s” and hope for the best.  
The man in the car that Sam was rolling pennies across began blowing his horn and giving her the finger, which she promptly shot back at him. The man opened his door and got out of his car, yelling something about Freddie never being able to have children because he was about to be force fed his testicles, which Freddie didn’t find appealing in the least. Luckily for him, just as the man made it to his side of the car the light changed and Freddie floored the pedal and left the man in a cloud of rubber smoke and curse words from Sam about the size of his “organ” and with whom he preferred to use it.  
Freddie pulled into the lot at Bushwell and got out of the car, slamming the door and storming over to Sam’s. He jerked it open and for the first time in his life felt the overwhelming urge to punch a woman in the face, well a Puckett anyway. Instead he also opened Carly’s door and then quietly walked into the complex without a word to either of them. Sam’s laugh died out when he had turned around and all traces of humor left her as he walked away without a word. ‘That isn’t how the game is played Benson,’ she thought to herself, ‘I push, you react, we both score a few revenge points and we begin again. This walk away shit isn’t going to cut it, I won’t stand for it.’

 

Freddie entered the lobby just as a woman waiting for the elevator lost her grip on the box she was holding marked “Fragile”.   
“Oh shit,” the unseen woman shouted as Freddie dived after the box and caught it just before it hit the ground, saving the box, but knocking the wind out of him. He rolled over still trying to catch his breath, and found that he couldn’t find it again.  
She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had flowing red hair, hypnotic gray/green eyes, a small almost button nose, and a smile that could give the sun a run for its money. She was so beautiful that it actually hurt to look at her. He felt his face turn red and the beginnings of a hard-on. He tried to speak, but nothing would come out, just a rush of air and mindless noise.  
She spoke to him, “Oh thank you so much young man, some of those things have been in my family for over a hundred years.”  
All he could do was offer her a goofy “I’m a dumbass” grin, and marvel at how beautiful her voice was and how he really needed to stop staring at her legs, bare midriff, and her what had to be D-cup breast before she caught him, if she hadn’t already. ‘Say something dumbass, anything, just don’t lay here and look like your Lenny from “Of mice and men”, speak jackass, SPEAK!’ his mind screamed at him.   
“I always try to help legs in debreast,” he quickly and smoothly said, proud of himself for speaking at all, till he actually heard what he had said, and then wished he had just remained silent and appeared stupid rather than speaking and removing all doubt.  
She laughed and he found himself getting harder at the sound.  
‘Well, Romeo, let’s try to salvage some part of your dignity,’ he thought and then spoke again, “I mean, I always try to help LADIES in DESTRESS.”  
She laughed and set the other box in her hand down and took the box Freddie had and allowed him to get up. He then took the box back from her and spoke CAREFULLY again, “I’d be happy to help you take this stuff to wherever you’re going.”  
‘Well thank you…” she waited for him to tell her his name.  
“Freddi… Fred, Fred Benson, I live on the eighth floor,” he forced his voice a little lower than it really was, trying to impress her.  
“I’m Melissa, Melissa Langford, and I am very glad to meet you Freddi… Fred Benson, she smiled at him and he lost his words again, “I’m moving in on the seventh floor and I would really appreciate you doing that.”  
Carly and Sam walked into the lobby just as the doors closed on Freddie and Melissa’s elevator. Carly was lost in thought planning the party and Sam was still upset that Freddie hadn’t played their game right. She didn’t know why it made her so… so... she was not upset, not mad or angry, she was hurt. ‘How the hell could the “nub” not playing our game make me feel hurt,’ she wondered, ‘since when do I give a shit what Fredhole does or doesn’t do?’

Carly was already planning the music to be played and what food to serve when she looked up and noticed that it was just her and Sam waiting on the elevator.  
“Where did Freddie go?” she raised her eyebrow and set a slightly hurt look on her face that he would walk away while she was talking to them.  
“He got the fuzz on his peach in a bunch over the penny roll and stormed off mad,” Sam tried not to sound to hurt, but failed in the attempt.  
Carly noticed the hurt, but decided to let it slide for now, “Sam, honestly you’ve got to stop being so cruel to him. Next to me, he’s the best friend you have and one day you’re gonna push him too far and then we’ll lose him, and no Freddie, no iCarly.”  
“Chillax, Fredwiner will calm down and he’ll be talking to momma just like always,” Sam’s voice sounded more sure than she felt. She had never seen him look at her like that before. It was the look she had seen in her father’s eyes, before he left, just before he would hit or slap her. She knew with all her heart that Freddie would never hurt her or let her be hurt if he could help it. ‘Damn girl,’ she thought, ‘what the hell are you doing thinking about the “nub” like that for? You’d think you liked the runt or something.’

Freddie and Melissa stepped off the elevator on the seventh floor and walked to the door of seven-B. She set the box she carried down, giving Freddie a great view of her fabulously well toned ass, and took her keys out and unlocked the door. The apartment was a one story two bedroom floor plan with a large living room and a separate kitchen. It was very spacious and at the moment filled with boxes and very little furniture.  
Melissa smiled at him and answered his unspoken question, “The movers will be here tomorrow with the rest of our stuff.”  
“Our stuff?” Freddie felt his crest fall at the knowledge of “our”.  
“My husband, Charlie, he’s a Marine and he’s in Afghanistan right now, but he’s coming home in September. This is going to be our first home since we got married,” she gushed as she talked to Freddie and despite himself he couldn’t help but feel jealous of Charlie being married to such a perfect woman.  
“You can set that box down on the counter there if you like?” she nodded her head toward the counter/bar that ran along the half wall that separated the kitchen and living room. Freddie smiled at her and set the heavy box of breakable items down.  
“Boy, they sure didn’t do very much cleaning up or work in here before they let you move in,” he observed as he looked at the stains and holes in the wall and the sorry state of the carpet.  
“Oh I got the rent dropped quite a bit by offering to clean and fix and paint the place myself,” she looked around the place, “I’ll probably take me all summer, but the discount on the rent is worth it.”  
The idea was in his head and out his mouth at almost the same time, “Do you have someone to help you with all of this?”  
“Nope, just me, myself, and I,” she shook her head.  
“I live right upstairs and I don’t have a job this summer, I could help you if you want,” he said in an eager tone with a smile on his face, “I’m real good with my hands and I’ve helped my mom paint our apartment before, so I’m good at that.”  
“Fred I wouldn’t be able to pay you very much, if at all,” Melissa started to say.  
“That’s ok,” he jumped in, “Just think of it as keeping me out of trouble for the summer and maybe feed me lunch or something every once and a while, ok?”  
“That’s really sweet of you Fred,” she smiled at him and touched his face, “Ok, it’s a deal. Can you start on Monday morning at say nine?”  
The grin that broke across Freddie’s face was stunning in its brightness, as he nodded and told her, “Yes.”  
“I’ll get my computer hooked up somehow and video chat with Charlie and see if we can’t slip a little money your way also, no arguments on that either.”  
“Well as fate would have it, I’m a class one grade A computer “Geek”, my friends and I do a web show called “iCarly” and in handle all the tech stuff, I can hook you up in no time.”  
“So that’s why you look so familiar, Charlie and I watch the show sometimes,” she grinned at him and made like she was fanning herself, “I had no idea that I was in the presence of a star.”  
Freddie’s face turned red and he found himself digging a toe at the carpet. She could tell he was in the throes of a massive crush on her and it made her feel good. He was cute and she could tell that he had no idea how cute he was, and that made him even cuter. She would have to be careful and let him know that she wasn’t on the market and that she definitely was not a cougar on the prowl. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt this sweet young man. She could see that he was very shy most of the time and reminded her so much of Charlie when he was that age.  
She had fallen in love with Charlie over the course of many years. They had met when they were eleven and she despised him with every part of her being. He was short, high voiced, scrawny, and most of all, he was a complete and utter “geek”, with a capitol “G”. She had decided to make it her life’s work to make his existents a living hell. She hit him, tripped him, played jokes on him, and in general humiliated him whenever she could. But it didn’t faze him at all, in fact he gave as good as he got and a war of attrition began between the two, but instead of one giving up as would be expected, they both dug in and fought tooth and nail. They also grudgingly became friends. She would vent her problems to him and he did the same. They would never violate each other’s trust, not even for a joke or prank. She had dated several guys, and she used that term loosely, but something always made her pull back from them. Charlie began to grow, one summer shooting up to almost six feet tall, and filled out. Suddenly the runt wasn’t a runt anymore and she found that she couldn’t get him off her mind, but she tried. She began to date the school hunk, but he didn’t excite her at all. One day, three weeks into junior year, she confessed to Charlie that the boy, Larry, wasn’t exciting to her and Charlie had smiled and told her that he knew she wasn’t into Larry, and that she wouldn’t be into any guy she met. She had looked at him shocked and asked him just what he meant by that. Charlie had turned to her and set his book bag down and placed his hands gently on either side of her face and pulled her into a passionate kiss that left her barely able to stand and her heart racing so fast she was sure it would explode.  
“Because none of them make you feel like that, and that’s what you need and want,” he had smiled at her and picked up his bag, walking away like nothing had happened. She had just stared at the spot he had been and ran her hands over the spots on her face that he had touched.  
“I’m playing poker with the guys this afternoon,” he yelled out to her, breaking her out of the stupor his kiss had put her in, “if you figure out what it is that you want to do about that, I’ll be home after eight tonight,”   
She spent the rest of the day planning on just how bad she was going to beat the shit out of him, but at seven-fifty-five pm, she was sitting on his porch as he walked up and instead of the planed beat down, she launched herself at him and wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him with a passion that she didn’t know existed.  
They spent the weekend together and she never looked back. They had dated junior and senior year and when he had left for Marine boot camp she had fallen into a huge depression. After he had completed that he came home and over Christmas asked her to marry him. The wedding was set, but he got called up and sent to Afghanistan. He had gotten leave and sent home for a month, so on May 1st, 2012 they had married and spent the most wonderful two weeks of her life together before he had to go back, but come November he would be home for good and she couldn’t wait.  
“Ok then, I’ll see you tomorrow night at five o’clock,” she smiled at him, “Do you like meatloaf?”  
“My mom is obsessed with my health and rarely if ever fixes food that has any real taste,” he had a look of disgust on his face, “anything not cooked by her sounds fantastic.”  
Melissa laughed at his explanation and spoke, “Then meatloaf it is, with mashed potatoes, steamed carrots, cabbage, and corn. You can hook me up while it’s cooking and then you can meet Charlie when I talk to him, how does that sound?”  
Freddie wasn’t excited about seeing her husband, but the idea of sitting down and eating dinner with her caused the region south of his belt to stir and a warmth spread throughout his body, “That sound great,” he smiled and shook her hand, entirely too long and hard, “Well I guess I better go, my friend Carly is having an end of school party tonight and I kind of have to go, so see you tomorrow at five.”  
“Have a good time Fred,” Melissa smiled at him as he left and she shut the door. She hoped that some special girl would notice how great a young man he was and would take the time to get to know him. She wanted him to find a girl that would treat him right, because she could see the Charlie in him and knew he would make someone very happy.

.  
Carly was very much in her happy place at the moment. The party was going full blast and everyone was having a ball. She looked around the room and people were dancing and the food was being eaten and she could see that Dale, the hottest guy she had seen in quite awhile at school, was staring at her. She crossed the room and found Sam sitting at a table talking to Freddie and Gibby with a Wahoo punch in her hand and pulled her up and over to the side.  
“Jeez Carly, what the hell,” Sam complained at the strong arm tactic from her friend and being pulled away from one of her better putdowns of Freddie in sometime.  
“Sorry Sam,” Carly said impatiently, “Look,” she pointed to Dale, being very discreet, “Dale Watson came and he’s been checking me out all night. Oh my God Sam, he’s so hot. Do you think he’ll ask me out?”  
“Well how about if he asks you to dance first?” Sam smiled at her over eager friend. Carly always went in with both barrels blazing when it came to a new guy. Any other girl would have earned the reputation as a tease or as easy, but Carly was so innocent and pure that she never got that label.  
“Oh well yeah, that would be cool,” Carly tried not to look so “fangirl” at Dale, but she knew she was failing that miserably. She felt her eyes go wide when she saw him begin to walk toward her.  
“Oh shit, here he comes, later,” Carly shoved Sam away so fast and hard that Sam bumped into some random dude.  
“Damn it Shay,” Sam swore at her friend, but smiled at the way her best friend got worked up over yet another boy, “I’m so sorry about bumping into you dude, my friend is crazy.”  
The tall blonde headed boy turned around and smiled at her, “Well I’m not. I’m Will, Will Graham and you’re Sam Puckett of iCarly, great to meet you.  
Sam was immediately struck by the smile Will had on his face. She thought he was amazing looking and couldn’t believe he was glad to meet her.  
“How come I’ve never seen you before?” Sam asked him, leaning close to be heard over the music and crowd. She thought he smelled great, breathing in his cologne as she spoke.  
“I just moved here last month, I’m Wendy’s cousin,” he told her, “Listen I hope I’m not out of line, but are you and that guy dating?” he pointed toward Freddie.  
Sam looked at Freddie and felt something she wasn’t sure of, but shook her head, “Freddie and me? No we’re not dating. Why would you think that?”  
“Well, you’ve been sitting with him and big kid with no shirt most of the night and you looked like you were really into him, but if you say you’re not then cool,” he smiled at her, “I was wondering if you’d like to dance?”  
“Um … Su… sure, I guess, I mean yes. Let me sit my drink down,” Sam smiled at Will and felt a blush begin to creep up her face. She walked back over to the table where Freddie and Gibby sat and put her drink down, looking at Freddie with a grin.  
“He asked me, ME, to dance Freddie, can you believe that?”  
“Sure I can demon,” he smiled at her, “for pure evil, you’re really quite a looker. Now get your ass over there and dance with him before someone else does.”  
Sam was surprised at what Freddie had said, and a little stunned that she was upset that he didn’t get mad about the guy, which was strange to her. She turned and saw Will smile at her and found herself excited by him and a little nervous at the same time. This guy had spoken to HER, asked HER to dance, and seemed to be into HER. ‘This might turn out to be a very interesting summer,’ she thought as she walked back toward him.  
Will was amazed that someone so beautiful would be without a boyfriend and that she would dance with him. He took her hand and led her to the floor just as “Lady Antebellum” “Just A Kiss” began to play. He slipped his arm around her waist and took her right hand as she put her left arm around his shoulders and they began to dance. Sam felt something like butterflies in her stomach and couldn’t help but feel a little thrill that this really cute guy had chosen her to dance with. He pulled her a little closer to him and in spite of herself; she put her head on his shoulder and smiled to herself.

.  
Freddie watched his best friend, despite everything, dance with the new guy and smiled to himself, ‘I hope this guy is really good to you,’ he thought, ‘you deserve a guy who will treat you right for a change.’  
Gibby was going on about liquid soap or something like that, Freddie had turned the volume down on him, but Freddie was thinking about Melissa and their “date” tomorrow night. He had done some checking in the rental contract, he had hinted at the idea that his mom might be ready to start up again with Lewbert to get a look at it, and found that Melissa was only twenty-two years old and had moved here from Tennessee. He wasn’t trying to be a creeper or stalker in doing that; you just didn’t ask a lady her age. While he didn’t believe in cheating, he still found the thought of being near her all summer helping her out as something that might let the spark he felt for her smolder and maybe catch fire.  
He was deep in that dream world and feeling the beginnings of yet another boner when someone slapped his back softly, pulling him back from the seduction scene in his mind.  
Brad sat down in Sam’s chair and leaned over the table like a conspirator about to divulge a plot to kill someone, and motioned for Freddie and Gibby to lean over as well.  
“Dudes, see those three girls over there?” Brad pointed to three semi-cute girls over by Spencer’s bottle-bot doing the “lonely girl shuffle” which closely resembles the “lonely guy shuffle”.   
The “shuffle” is the dance everyone does at parties when they can’t get someone to dance with them or are too shy to ask someone. The person tries to keep time with the song, swaying their hips, moving both up and down, first the right and then the left, and sometimes the “shuffler” will bite their bottom lip. If alcohol is involved the “shuffle” will become more intense the drunker the person becomes.  
“Yes,” both Freddie and Gibby said.  
“Well they are all alone and are interested in dancing with us and going out on a date, but only if all three can go out,” Brad wiggled his eyebrows at them, “and I say we “oblige” them dudes. Listen to me guys, no way in hell are we going to start senior year as virgins, we are all three gonna get laid this summer come hell or high water.”  
“Yeah, I like the sound of that,” Gibby leered at the girls, “The summer of poontang, Gibby likes.”  
“Oh my God, Gibby with a boner, suddenly my sex drive has completely fallen of the chart,” Freddie laughed and turned to Brad, “What makes you think that those girls are gonna give it up to us before the summers over or anytime at all?”  
“Well for one,” Brad extended his index finger, “they ain’t that popular,” the middle finger, “two they don’t got boyfriends,” the ring finger, “three they think we’re cute,” the pinky finger, “and four we’re the iCarly dudes, so we are kind of like celebrities, and girls love to give it up to celebrities.”  
“That’s it?” Freddie shook his head at his friend and co-worker, “they just give it up like that?”  
“Look numnuts, the point isn’t whether it’s those chicks or some others; the point is we get laid this summer.”  
“Damn Brad, you make it sound like it’s some kind of contest or something.”  
“Even better, Whoever doesn’t get laid this summer has to get up in front of everyone at Carly’s back to school party and tell everyone that they are a virgin,” Brad extended his hand to the middle of the table, palm down, “deal?”  
“GIBBY,” Gibby said as he placed his hand on top of Brads.  
They both looked at Freddie who was just looking back at them, disapproval on his face, “Guys, don’t you think this is just a little sick?”  
“No I don’t,” Brad smiled at him, “come on dude, you got nothing to lose but your cherry.”  
Freddie rubbed his chin with his left hand for a second and against everything he believed in, he extended his right hand and placed it on top of theirs, “I’m gonna regret this.”  
.  
Carly couldn’t believe that Dale Watson was talking to her. He was like the alpha male at Ridgeway and had his pick of girls to ask out, but here he was chatting her up and flashing his million dollar smile.  
Dale stood just a little under six feet tall and had chestnut colored hair with light brown eyes that she thought sparkled as he talked. Carly was working her patented “I’m really into you” routine. She had her head cocked to the left side looking up at him and was twirling some of her dark hair around her index finger as she nodded.  
“This is a killer party Carly,” Dale smiled at her, looking around the place and then back at her as he tried to stand up a little straighter so he looked taller, “you sure do have a lot of friends.”  
“The show helps that out a lot,” she flashed a dizzying smile at him.  
“It is a very cool show,” he grinned back, struck by how beautiful she was and how down to earth she seemed to be, “So… uh… want to dance?”  
Carly smiled and twisted some hair around her index finger, “Sure.”  
Dale led her to an open spot of floor and slipped his arms around her and as she put her arms around his neck they began to slow dance.  
“You know I watch your show all the time,” he was looking down at her as he spoke, “You and Sam are hilarious. Is it scripted or are you guys just winging it on the fly?”  
“We have a general idea of what we’re doing, but we can definitely go off script when we have to.”  
“I gotta admit I was a little nervous about talking to you,” he grinned at the puzzled look on her face, “I mean you’re a celebrity and all and I’m just Joe Shmoe from Bumfuck Egypt. It’s really kind of intimidating. It took me thirty minutes to get the nerve up to come over and do it. I really figured you would look at me and laugh right in my face.”  
“I would never do that,” she smiled at him.  
“Well I know that now, but then I had no clue.”  
They continued dance and talk the small talk that a boy and a girl talk about when the first meet and find themselves attracted to each other. 

,  
Sam and Will were dancing on the other side of the room and were lost in each other. They talked and laughed about nothing at all.  
“… so we ended up jumping out of the cargo plane into Japan,” Sam laughed, “So what about you? What kind of interesting stories do you have to tell?”  
“Well let’s see,” he grinned at her as they stopped dancing and began to head for the snack table, “I’m from New Mexico, I play guitar and under no circumstances do I sing. I sing so bad that my deaf cousin tells me he can feel the tone deafness of my voice.”  
“Oh it couldn’t be that bad.”  
“I sang once in New Mexico and coyotes bum rushed the block thinking it was female in heat. I shit you not.”  
Sam laughed and suddenly realized that they had been talking and dancing for over an hour. She felt at ease with Will and was enjoying the fact that he was listening to her. He was talking also, but he was listening to her and letting her talk without trying to run some kind of angle to get her to make-out with him.   
‘If he did want to, I would be more than happy to,” she thought as she noticed a warmth in his green eyes, ‘What the hell is happening to me? I’m really getting girly over this guy.’

.  
Brad led Freddie and Gibby over to the three girls he had pointed out earlier. Freddie could already feel the awkwardness rising in his stomach. The girls were a strange little contrasting group. The blonde wore her hair up and stood at almost five- eleven with blue eyes and the look of someone who would rather be reading a book than standing at a party where she was invisible.  
The girl with jet black hair wore thick horn rimmed glasses that unfortunately brought attention her slightly bent nose. She stood at maybe five-six and had one brown and one gray one. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights, desperately wanting to runaway, but to scared to, which made her rail thin body shake.  
The last girl was four-six maybe and weighed at least two hundred pounds. Her light brown hair was long and done up in a ponytail that rested on her shoulder and hung down her front in-between her rather large breasts. She looked like she had spent her whole life being picked last in gym or the girl everyone passes by on the way to ask someone else to dance. Freddie could see the hurt in her brown eyes and made up his mind in that instant what he was going to do.  
When they arrived in front of them Freddie made a point of standing in front of her and giving her one of his best smiles. She looked behind her for a second, thinking the smile was for someone else, and then turned back to him as if to say, ‘Who me?’ with her eyes. He nodded at her and kept smiling. Then her cheeks turned red and she smiled from ear to ear standing a little taller. She looked down at her feet and then back at him again as the nervous game of “meeting for the first time” game began.  
“Ladies allow me to introduce my buds here,” Brad pointed to Gibby, “This is Gibby,” he pointed to Freddie, “and this is Freddie,” both boys nodded as he continued on, “and guys this is Linda,” he pointed to the blonde, “this is Sally,” the deer in the headlights, “and this Tara,” the girl Freddie stood in front of.  
They all said hellos and Linda and Sally made a beeline for Freddie, who politely walked past them, and asked Tara to dance. She looked stunned and unable to speak, because all she did was nod yes with her beautiful smile intact.  
Freddie walked them to the middle of the room and placed his arms around her waist as she strained to get hers up to his neck. She gave that up, he was just too tall, and so she settled for putting them around his chest.  
“So Tara,” he looked down at her, “I’m sorry to say that I don’t think I’ve seen you before, do you go to Ridgeway?”  
“Yeah, I’ll be a junior next year,” Tara spoke softly, “and it’s ok, most people don’t notice me.  
“Well then that’s their loss, he grinned at her as they swayed, “I’m just glad you came tonight and that Gibby or Brad didn’t ask you to dance first.”  
Tara’s face turned almost purple with the blush that spread across her face, “I know you’re just being nice to me because you have to for your friends, but thank you just the same.”  
Freddie removed one hand from her waist and placed it under her chin and lifted her face so they were looking into each other’s eyes, “First of all don’t put yourself down like that, second of all I don’t do things like that, and third of all,” he bent down and kissed her on the cheek, “I wanted to dance with you, that’s why I asked.”  
Tara was not sure if her feet were on the ground anymore. She wasn’t even sure if she was awake at all, because things like that never happened to her, EVER! One of the hottest boys in school asked her to dance and kissed her cheek, in front of everyone no less, and had done so because he wanted to not because he had to.  
‘Ok lord, I’m ready to go home now,” she thought to herself, ‘please, please don’t let this be a dream.’  
As they danced she noticed that everyone was watching them, “Freddie,” she whispered, “everyone is staring at us.”  
“Yep, they are, because the prettiest girl in the room is dancing with me,” he smiled and twirled her around once and then dipped her. She laughed and Freddie couldn’t help but grin. The song finished and they made their way to the snack table for a drink. Carly and Sam were both standing there with Will and Dale.  
“Tara, these are my best friends,” Sam was floored at him calling her one of his best friends, “Sam and Carly. Carly and Sam this is Tara.”  
Sam and Carly introduced Will and Dale and the six of them started talking. The party finally ran down at ten-thirty, and after Brad and Gibby left, Gibby with Linda and Brad with Sally, the six of them cleaned up and talked.  
“Hey I got an idea,” Dale snapped his fingers, “why don’t we all go to the beach tomorrow; maybe even have a cook-out at the beach?”  
“Well I’m up for the beach,” Freddie said, “but I have to help the lady who moved into seven-B hook up her computer, so the night is out for me.”  
“Someone new moved in?” Carly asked.  
“Yeah, her name is Melissa Langford,” Freddie said doing his best to hide the feelings he felt for her so no one would find out, “Her husband is a Marine in Afghanistan and actually I’ll be working for her this summer getting the place fixed up. She took a big cut in rent by doing it herself, but it’s just too much stuff for her alone.”  
“All right then,” Dale seemed to be a natural planner, “How about we all meet here at, say nine in the morning?”  
“I…I don’t know,” Tara said skittishly, “I’m not big on the beach,” she lowered her head and mumbled, ‘people make fun of me because of my weight and I look awful in a swimsuit anyway.”  
Freddie put his hand under her chin again and brought her head up so she could see his eyes, “You’ll look great and if anyone makes fun of you I’ll sic Sam on them and she’ll do nasty things to them, right Sam?”  
“I’ll have my butter sock at the ready,” she grinned.  
“See all taken care of, so come on, join us,” he stood up and began to shamble around the room like a zombie, “Join us, join us, join us.”  
Sam, Carly, Will, and Dale stood and began to do the same thing as Tara began laughing so hard that she began to cry. The five “zombies” now surrounded her chanting, “join us”, all she could do was nod yes and fan herself.

. Twenty minutes later Freddie parked his car in front of Tara’s house and walked her to the porch.  
“Listen Tara, I really need to tell you something,” Freddie looked at her, “You’re a very special girl and I had a great time tonight and I… well …I…,” she cut him off before he could say anymore.  
‘You really like me, but you don’t feel “that way” about me, right?” she smiled a sad little smile at him.  
“Well what I was going to say was I’ve got this really bad crush on this lady that moved into my building,” he couldn’t believe he was telling her this, “and right now that’s where my head is at. Don’t get me wrong, I know nothing will happen between this woman and me, but I can’t help how I feel. I really enjoyed tonight and would love to spend more time with you, but I just wanted you to know I’m not at a going steady kind of place. I don’t want to hurt you or lead you on, but I do want to spend time with you. Is any of this making sense at all or am I sounding like a nut?”  
“I understand you perfectly I think and you have no idea what you telling me this means to me,” she looked up at him with a smile, “I won’t get hurt and I do understand, and I just want you to know I’m going to do my best to make you fall for me, deal?”  
He grinned at her and bent down close to her face, “You just might at that,” then he kissed her lightly on the lips. He broke the kiss and noticed she stayed in the position for a minute, “Goodnight Tara.  
He walked back to his car and as he left the block he heard a shout echo through the air:

 

“Freddie freaking Benson kissed me, ME do you hear world he kissed me  
And all you haters out there can kiss my big fat wide ass right in the crack!”

Freddie laughed hard and smiled to himself and thought, ‘We may not become a couple, but I’m gonna help that girl see how special and beautiful she is. Wow Benson, crushing hard on a married woman and trying to help another one see that she is worth so much more that she knows, what the hell is happening to me. This summer was going to be wild and crazy.’ He headed back to Bushwell with Tara and swimming, and Melissa and meatloaf on his mind.  
.

Sam walked Will to the elevator and waited with him for it to arrive. She was in another world, happier than she had ever been and she knew Will was the cause of it. She wanted the night to last forever and she wanted to feel Will’s arms around her again. She leaned against the wall and stared into his green eyes and just listened to his tale of brotherly woe, “… so the little shit sticks his tongue out at me and grins as he yells, “Mom, Will hit me and broke my game.” Well she rounds the corner, I’ve got the little bastards broken game in my hand, he has dirt all over him and of course I look and am as mad as hell so I end up grounded, paying for the game and stewing over how to get the little nut hugger back,” Will laughed and Sam was amazed at the warmth that it put out.   
She giggled and poked him in the ribs, “Never underestimate the power of the small bubba, I think I like your brother,” her eyes sparkled as she laughed and he leaned in a little closer to her and very lightly kissed her on the lips, then pulled away.  
Just as he did elevator dinged and Freddie stepped out whistling some tune by Richard Marx called “Hold on to the Night” which Sam knew was a song about a man arguing with himself about cheating on someone when he had done his best to do the right thing for everyone else involved. Sam was surprised at just how different Freddie looked now from the way he had looked earlier today. For a split second she found him the only thing on her mind and then Will spoke to Freddie and Sam’s mind snapped back to Will.  
“Hey Fred man,” Will pulled him to the side and whispered to him, although Sam could hear him, “Thanks bro for clueing me in and helping me out, I owe you, big time!”  
“Just do right by her, or somewhere when you least expect it, I’ll jump out of an alley and put an ass whooping like you wouldn’t believe on you bro!” Freddie was very serious as the two pounded fists.  
“Like she a princess,” he smiled and Freddie walked on by as Will took Sam’s hand and kissed it goodnight, “See you tomorrow sunshine,” he winked and stepped into the elevator, “Freddie, beach and volleyball dude?”  
“Sounds like a plan,” Freddie turned and laughed, walking backwards as he spoke.  
The door closed, Will winking at Sam before it did. Sam turned and ran to catch up Freddie, “What was that all about Freddie?” Sam asked, really interested in what the two of them had talked about.  
“Nothing, he just wanted to know about the show, “Freddie grinned at her, knowing she wouldn’t accept that as an answer.  
“Bullshit, nub,” Sam grinned and jumped on Freddie’s back, surprised at how muscular he felt and how she seemed to be of no consequence weight wise to him, and began to tickle his sides.  
“I’m not ticklish anymore princess,” his deep voice suddenly sending a chill, a good chill, to all kinds of places all over her body, “Take two,” he twisted and backed her carefully into the wall and began to tickle the underside of her legs, sending her into spasms of laughter.  
With no choice left, she took hold of his right ear and began to pull with all her might.  
“Ow, ow, ow, fucking ow Sam,” Freddie felt like the ear was coming off at the nerve ending, “shit Sam I need that to hear with, shit fire fuck!”  
Laughing as she let go and jumped from his back, Sam bounced in front of him as he rubbed his ear and jumped around, “What did you two talk about?” Sam laughed, this was the game, the one he had refused to play earlier in the day, the game she had come to expect, and to some degree that she would never admit, even to herself, need and crave.  
“Shit Sam,” he tried but couldn’t feel anything but an ache at the point where his ear joined with his skull, “he just wanted to know if we had dated and when I said HELL NO, he wanted to know about you and things you liked and didn’t like, so I told him. Jesus, say something into this ear Puckett I think I’m deaf now,” he pointed to his right ear.  
Sam was caught off guard by what he had said and had done for her that she stepped up and whispered in his ear as she kissed it softly, “Thank you Freddierly, and if you ever tell anyone about this, I’ll put itching powder in your underwear and tell your mom you have ticks.”  
“It remains between us demon,” he kissed her forehead and smiled.  
They looked at each other and then he threw his arm around her shoulders as she put her arm around his waist and they walked toward Carly’s door, “I can’t believe you said that you’d “whoop his ass” if he treated me bad,” Sam laughed.  
“And I meant it, if he doesn’t treat you right I know a place that they’ll never find the body,” he smirked and kicked his right leg up and caught her behind with his foot. They both laughed and kept on walking toward Carly’s.

.  
Carly walked Dale to his car, a goofy smile on her face. Dale had slipped his left arm around Carly’s waist and was lost in an internal battle about if he should kiss her or not. He didn’t want to come on too strong, but he really, really wanted to kiss her, badly.  
When they got to his car, Dale faced her and stuttered, “Ca… Ca… Carly, I um, well, I um kind of what to ask you some ‘em and it’s gonna sound, well I don’t know how it’s gonna sound, but the thing is I really like you and I was wonder’en if I could ki…”  
Carly couldn’t wait any longer and kissed him herself. The kiss started out slow and kind of old fashioned, like a the ones from the old black and white movies, but suddenly Carly felt Dale’s tongue run along her bottom lip and she let it enter her mouth with a moan that was matched by his own. As her hands went around his neck, his went around her waist and he pulled her closer. Carly felt her stomach do a flip and she suddenly felt a warmth in her core that spread over her body.  
As they broke the kiss, they both had the goofy face that all young lovers get when they first meet, the slightly dazed, glassy eyed, and grin that doesn’t go away for days.  
“Listen, I um… better get going,” he told her as he began to fumble for the keys to his car, the keys he had in his left hand, “w… where the hell are my keys? Awe damn it.”  
Carly smiled and reached for his hand and raised to his face and jingled them at him. She laughed when he turned red.  
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he grinned and got in his car and drove off, Carly watching till his tail lights disappeared from view.  
Carly walked in the haze of a summer kisses, where lovers walk and every day is perfect. She didn’t even hear Lewbert as he screamed at her for walking on his floor.  
‘This is going to be a hell of a summer,’ She thought.

This is the same story as on Fan Fiction, but the chapters are longer and not split.


	2. Chapter 2

Beaches, Meatloaves, And First Dates Part 1

 

The first night of summer break and as always Sam slept over at Carly’s. She actually had more stuff at Carly’s than she did at her house. In truth Sam lived at Carly’s and would spend the night at home a few times a year. Her mom wasn’t really a bad person per say, she just had the maternal instincts of a crocodile. She tried but she just wasn’t able to be that person, and Sam had come to terms with that and had accepted that things were how they were.  
To her surprise, Sam woke up early, seven-thirty and on a Saturday no less, with the dream from the night before still vivid in her mind.  
She was standing on a beach and except for the crash of the waves it was quiet and peaceful. She had no idea how she got there, or even where there was, butthere she was. She felt the presence of someone long before she noticed anyone standing there. She turned slowly, she wasn’t afraid because she knew nothing would harm her, and saw Will standing at her extreme right. She smiled, but didn’t move. She raised her hand to wave and he waved back.   
She was about to walk toward him when she could feel someone to her left. Once again there was no fear as she turned and saw… well she was unsure of what she saw. She knew it was a man, she could see his body quite clearly, but the face was lost in a swirl of mist or fog, almost becoming visible then the swirl would cover it up again.  
She stood between the two and couldn’t move at all. She wanted to walk to Will, who was waving at her to come to him, but the other figure to her left, not saying or doing anything, seemed like a magnet and she felt like steel being attracted to the unknown man. She stood in place, moving her head from side to side like she was watching a tennis match, unable to choose, and then she woke up.  
Sam stretched and slipped on her house shoes and grabbed her robe as she headed downstairs. She was in one of the best moods she had ever been in. Will had stirred something in her that she had never known. Most boy, Freddork being one of them, always went for Carly and left Sam with the crumbs, the bums, the freaks, and the geeks. But Will was different, he asked HER out and had even gone to Freddie for advice about what she liked and didn’t like. It made her feel important and special.  
The only surprise she had was that Freddie had talked her up so well. He could have shot her down in flames, and the way she did him sometimes, she wouldn’t have blamed him, but instead he did her a real solid and somewhere deep down inside of her a little warm spot was reserved for the nub. She really didn’t hate him, as a matter of fact she thought of him as one of her best friends, but she would never tell him that because he’d blow it all out of proportion and then she’d have to smack him.  
Twenty minutes later the Shay apartment smelled of eggs, bacon, ham, and toast. Sam heard a knock at the door and opened it to see Freddie smile and preform an impression of a Looney Tunes character who is led by the smell of food.  
“Wow, what kind of kiss did Will give you last night?” he asked as he stopped at the bar and sat down as Sam walked back to the kitchen and her cooking, “he’s got you acting like Mrs. Cleaver this morning and so early at that. Sam, are you dreaming of a little house with a white picket fence and two-point-eight kids?”  
He began to laugh and Sam whipped around, trying to look and sound mad, but the smile on her face told a different story, “Your ass is MINE!”  
“Now Sam, what will the husband think if you beat up another man,” Freddie now had tears coming out of his eyes as he laughed and ran from Sam and the impossibly big spatula she was swinging at his butt, “If you hurry I’ll drive you over so you can serve him in bed like a good little wife.”  
“I’m gonna flip you like a flapjack when I catch you,” but there was no menace only laughter and joy in the easy banter that was the cornerstone of their relationship and she was smiling from ear to ear as she swung the spatula and connected with the left butt cheek, causing Freddie to yelp and rub the cheek in question as he rounded the bar and stopped with Sam on the other side, snide grin in place.  
They stared at each other for a second and Sam saw the idea the moment it popped into his head, “Don’t even think it nub, don’t even think it.”  
With the voice of a Bond villain, Freddie began to walk around toward her, “Oh it’s much too late to stop it now princess, you will be punished,” he raised one eyebrow as he finished the sentence.  
“Freddie I’m not kidding, get away from me and let it go,” the smile was still on her lips as she spoke.  
Using his vampire voice now he grinned at her, “Mmm… I can taste your fear my dear,” he walked closer, “and it tastes divine.”  
Sam bolted to the right and then spun to the left, but Freddie was ready for her and caught her and carried her over his shoulder to the couch where he pinned her down and began to tickle her without mercy.  
The more she squirmed the more he tickled and they were both laughing hard. As they continued to wrestle around and laugh, they failed to notice the smoke coming from the kitchen, and then for a split second, so quick they both were unsure it had happened, their eyes locked and something that neither of them could describe passed between them and when the fire alarm went off it was gone.  
Spencer was the first one into the room, robe flying behind him his Wonder Woman boxers and a t-shirt that said “I’d do her” becoming a blur as he slipped and slid into the kitchen head first with a mighty crash.  
Sam and Freddie looked at each other again and began to laugh as hard as they could, Freddie rolling off the top of her and landing with a thud on the floor by the couch, as Carly stomped down the stairs like mother about to dole out the daily dose of punishment to her rowdy children.  
“What in the HELL is going on down here?” she practically screeched as her head bobbed completing the picture in Sam’s mind of a hen.  
Sam looked at Freddie in the floor, and in that one millisecond of time the picture in her head flashed in his and they lost all control, laughing so hard they started to cough.  
“What’s so damn funny?” Carly was quite unaware of her actions and that made the head shaking and foot stomping even more funny to the duo. Sam began to hold her side as cramps from the laughter set in, and Freddie stuck his head under the couch laughing and curling into a fetal position, unable to stop.  
“I’m all right, just bruised my hinny and maybe broke a few ribs,” Spencer yelled from the kitchen floor.  
Carly stomped her way to the kitchen causing Sam to roll off the couch and landing full force on Freddie’s back, “Shit I think I pissed myself,” she said as she was able to breath in fresh air.  
“Ew, get off me then silent spring,” Freddie bucked her off and stood up offering his hand to help her up. Once they were both standing they faced Carly again and bit down on their jaws so as not to laugh at her again.  
Carly’s hair was in wild disarray, looking like a bush that hadn’t been trimmed in ages, giving her the look of someone who had stuck their finger in a light socket. Her face was beet red and her body was as ridged as a two by four and almost as deadly.  
“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?” she didn’t look quite as funny now, a large wooden pizza board in her hand, eyes narrowed into slits, like a cat about to strike at a mouse.  
“Frednerd started it,” Sam protested.  
“You’re the one who came after me with aspatula,” he countered.  
“Well...”  
“But you…”  
“I…”  
“I was…”  
“SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU,” Carly screamed as they talked and argued, both speaking at the same time, “enough! It is eight o’clock in the morning, the first morning of summer break, and you two set the apartment on fire and wake ME out of a great dream about Dale, if I wasn’t a lady I’d go Puckett on both your asses! Now sit down, away from each other, and let me see what is left of our kitchen. I didn’t have time to look before.”  
Using her peripheral vision, honed to a sharp edge from years around the two of them, Carly saw that they were both smiling at each other and quietly laughing. She was confused by the sight, but not surprised. The long drawn out war that was “Sam & Freddie” had taken a sharp turn six or seven months before. There was no longer the acid and hemlock that had flowed between the two since grade school. They had become much closer and the fights were playful now and not mean and hurtful, in fact they seemed to go out of their way not to cause real harm to each other. Carly wondered to herself if perhaps her friends might be on the verge of something more than friendship sometimes, despite what they said or how they had both acted with Will and Tara last night. She was going to have to watch them this summer and see how this played out.  
The kitchen really wasn’t in that bad of a shape. Four bricks of charcoal that had once been bread stuck out of the toaster, but other than that everything was fine. What was strange was the large plates of bacon, eggs, ham, and toast that sat on the counter by the stove.  
Carly turned and looked at Sam and thespatula in her hand. A look of surprised delight crossed her lips as she asked, “Sam, did you cook breakfast for everyone this morning?”  
“No,” Freddie slid away from Sam, “Mrs. Will Graham cooked it all and I’m gonna run her over so she can feed him in bed.”  
Sam turned red and spun around on Freddie, a beautiful smile etched on her face, and yelled, “I’ll make your ass bleed, nub!”  
Several minutes later the four of them sat down to eat, and to Carly’s amazement, the two of them sat side by side and kept up the good natured ribbing.  
‘Do they even realize that they are flirting with each other, or that this is the happiest I’ve ever seen either of them in a long time?’ she wondered as she ate and watched the show they were putting on.  
She looked at Spencer and saw the same look on his face as she knew she had on hers. The look of watching something magical happening before their eyes, and Sam and Freddie seemed oblivious to it. Spencer mouthed a “what the hell is going on?” at her, and she shrugged her shoulders to indicate that she had no idea at all.  
.  
After they ate, Sam and Freddie cleaned up in a very domesticated looking picture that made Carly want to laugh. She knew as soon as Freddie left that she was going to grill Sam about the whole thing.  
“Well gotta jet,” Freddie announced after putting the last dish away, “I gotta change, make sure I have all the things I need to hook up Mrs. Langford’s computer, and then swing by and pick up Tara. So are we gonna meet at the beach or the hot dog stand by the beach?”  
“HOT DOG STAND,” Sam yelled, pulling the matter off the table for discussion.   
“Sounds like a “wiener” to me,” Freddie laughed at his own joke as Sam made a retching sound and threw a dish towel at him.  
“I owe you a thousand lashes nerd for that bit of cheese,” Sam smiled and rolled her eyes as Carly just stared at them both.  
“Oh my, a tongue lashing, what will the hubby have to say about that?” he raised his left eyebrow and stuck out his tongue at her before quickly ducking out the door.  
“Your ass is my nub,” Sam shouted and she plopped down on the couch beside Carly, laughing.  
“Just what the hell is all this flirting between you and Freddie all about young lady,” Carly poked Sam in the arm with a finger as she smiled.  
“Shay, I do believe you have finally lost your freeking mind,” Sam looked at her friend with a puzzled expression on her face, “What in the hell makes you think me and the nerd were flirting?”  
“Oh I don’t know,” Carly began to tick reasons off on her hand, “I find the two of you on the floor in what could have only been a tickle war near the couch, you’re both laughing like three year olds at something only you two know about, you’re both joking with each other, you washed dishes together, which by the way you never washed dishes before in your life, and you sat by each other while you ate and both of you are all touchy feely with each other. Now I want to know, so I’ll ask again, WHAT IS GOING ON BETWEEN YOU AND FREDDIE?”  
Sam laughed and just shook her head at her friend and her lack of understanding, “Carl’s there isn’t anything going on with me and Freddie, ok. I really like this guy Will from last night. Freddie is, and if you repeat this they will only find bone fragments of you, a really good FRIEND! He’s kind of like the mangy puppy in front of the Groovy Smoothie, annoying as hell at first, but as time goes by he becomes kind of cute and loveable and you find you miss him if he isn’t around. Plus Freddie is fun to mess with, he gets me, well he gets us both, and well he’s, remember my threat, cool. Last night Will asked him questions about me, and despite the fact that the nub won’t tell me what he asked, Freddie did me a solid and talked me up to him. Let’s face it he could have shot me down in flames if he wanted to, I would have been tempted to, but he didn’t and that was very cool.”  
Carly just smiled and did her “sit-down” version of her happy dance as she sing-songed, “Aw, Sam thinks of Freddie as a good friend and that he’s cool. You like Freddie; aw my little girl is growing up.”  
“Shay, I swear to God,” Sam turned red as she reached for Carly, who was now off the couch and running into the kitchen, “they’re gonna need those pans they use for gold prospecting to find bone fragments if you don’t stop.”  
“He’s… You’re… FRIEND!” Carly pronounced the word friend like was a ten year old girl with a speech impediment as she dashed for the steps leading upstairs.  
Sam gave chase yelling like she was talking to someone else, but really for Carly’s benefit, “I swear officer the last time I saw her she was going to the store. No sir, that blood is from some hamburger meat I opened. Yes sir, I just planted this garden,” she disappeared up the stairs as Spencer came out of his room looking around the apartment, “Did I hear someone talking to the police?”  
.  
Freddie stood in the bathroom of his room trying to decide if he should shave or not. He looked twelve when he did and looked much older with the slight stubble that missing a day or two gave him. He hadn’t shaved the day before and since he was going to Melissa’s tonight and set up their computer he wanted to look as good as possible and he had to admit that he looked better with the scruff than without it.   
With his towel wrapped around his waist he walked from the bathroom to the chest of drawers and took out his red swimsuit. As he put it on he laughed at the fact that his chest was so hairy.   
When he was eleven he had noticed one day that he had hair growing in several places. He found stuff that explained most of it, but could find nothing on chest hair. His father had died when he was very young, so he had no male figure to ask about it, so being afraid that it wasn’t normal he had shaved his chest, cutting it in several places including the nipple. Less than three days later the hair had come back even thicker and in a much wider pattern. Finally after noticing that her razors were being used at an alarming rate his mother confronted him about it and he spilled the beans. She had laughed for quite a while before explaining that it was normal for that to happen and that his father had had a hairy chest also.  
He still felt self-conscious about it because most guys on T.V. and in the movies seemed to be hairless and he figured women must not like a hairy man.  
He walked back to the bathroom and put some deodorant, after-shave, and cologne on and then went and slipped his favorite “Hard To Die” t-shirt on and sat on the bed to slip on his dive shoes (No open toed shoes while Marissa Benson was on duty) and grabbed his wallet and keys and headed out the door to go and pick up his new friend Tara. He had his beach towel over his shoulder, sunscreen in his pocket, and the old tune “Roll With It” by Steve Winwood in his brain and on his lips as he did a little dance and sang waiting for the elevator. No one knew he sang or danced very much because he usually only did them when he was alone. No one knew that sometimes he would talk out dialog to stories that no one knew he wrote. He would talk for all the characters. It was a habit he had picked up as an only child. In order to play anything he would have to play all the parts.  
Freddie wasn’t like most people; he was comfortable being alone with himself. Not that he like being alone all the time but, he was ok with being alone. It was that reason that he had always been able to march to his own beat and not give two hoots in hell what someone thought. Despite being a “nerd” or a “nub”, as Sam called him, he got along with most people and had very little trouble getting to know new people.  
He was singing so loud and dancing with his back to the elevator, that he never heard the ding or the doors open with Melissa standing there, gardening tools in hand. She wanted to laugh, but was afraid it would hurt his feelings. It crossed her mind that her sixteen years old sister would make a great match for him, but she figured pretty quickly that it would be awhile before she could introduce them. She just watched, holding the door open, and grinned.  
“Roll with it baby, yeah just roll with me baby, un huh just rooooo…..” he spun around and found himself looking into the smiling face of Melissa, “oooolllllll.”  
‘Great, why not just wear a Bennie with a propeller on it and play the accordion while I slap my knees together to play the cymbals,’ he thought to himself as his face went beat red.  
“Do you take requests,” Melissa asked as the giggle she had fought to keep down finally broke free.  
Despite the embarrassment he felt, he began to laugh and as best as he could recover some of his dignity and pride, “We should never speak of this.”  
“Ah, the old Jedi mind trick, nice save,” she laughed.  
“Help me Obi Wan Kenobi you’re my only hope,” Freddie smiled as he entered the elevator and some of the red began to fade from his face, “Where have you been?”  
“I got permission to start a little garden up on the roof,” she said as the doors closed, “You can take the girl from the farm, but you can’t take the farm from the girl or something like that. We really didn’t farm, we raised horses, but I couldn’t get a barn on the roof, so I went with the garden. Someone is going to the beach I see.”  
“Yeah, Carly, Sam and these two guys they met at the party last night are going with me and this girl Tara I met last night.”  
“Oh my, a summer time romance maybe?” she elbowed him.  
“Naw, just a really sweet and cute girl who’s down on herself because of her weight and the way people overlook her,” he wanted to be sure and let Melissa know he was “unencumbered “ with female companionship for the summer, “We’re just good friends and I’m just going to help get her out of her shell. She deserves better than she’s getting, you know?”  
“That’s sweet of you Fred, but don’t forget to have some fun for yourself,” she touched his arm, sending a good shock all through his body and running directly to his crotch, and smiled at him, I’ll see you at five I guess?”  
“Yes mam…,” he started to say but she shook her head no.  
“I’m far too young to be a mam Fred; I’m only twenty-three. Call me Melissa, please.”  
“Yes ma… Melissa, I’ll be there at five on the dot.”  
She smiled and chuckled, again sending electricity through his whole body, again, “Have a good time Fred.”  
The door closed and he began to think about things he shouldn’t be thinking about when thinking about a married woman.  
A smile crept across his face as he smelled the air and her scent. He suddenly felt invincible and happier than he ever had before in his life. He began to do another favorite pastime of his, changing lyrics to songs to fit his mood.  
“I’m here to tell you right now, that girl knows how, she’s got a nice rack baby, she gave me wood that way,” he sang as he left the elevator and walked through the lobby, Lewbert screaming about noise and scuff marks on his floor. Freddie, riding high on the waves of young love and optimism that the whole world was going to open up for him, turned around at the mid-point of the lobby and very un-Freddie like, flicked off Lewbert with both hands as he yelled at the top of his lungs, “Suck it Lewbert, SUCK IT!”  
Lewbert sat down, stunned that Freddie of all people did that to him. Freddie turned around and began to walk out again as he began to sing, “I’m here to tell you right now, that girl knows how, she’s got nice rack baby, she gave me wood that way.”

.  
Sam stepped out of the bathroom with a purple one piece on that accentuated the curvesthat she had acquired over the year. Despite her tomboy ways, her body had become very womanly over the year. She had started the school year at a small c-cup, but now was almost out of the c and about to move into a d. Even Freddie had admitted to her that her ass was smoking hot and her days of playing second fiddle to Carly or any other girl was over. Her problem was she didn’t believe it, at least till last night when Will had asked her to dance. She had felt a very funny feeling in her stomach when they touched and talked, a feeling she couldn’t quite put her finger on. She found herself almost giddy at the prospect of spending the day with him.  
“You look fantastic Sam,” Carly said as she walked out of her changing area in a neon pink two-piece. Carly had gained some height over the school year and had a great pair of legs, but the one thing she wanted more than anything she had not gotten, bigger breast. She had just barely enough to be a small b-cup and it bothered her greatly. Sam’s had grown large and had filled out quite a bit and Carly had begun to feel that she would never fill out at all. Still, she was in a great mood because she had a beach date with Dale Watson and both her friends were joining her and they had dates as well.  
Just as Sam was about to say something Spencer yelled from downstairs, “Carly, Carly!”  
“What’s up?” Carly yelled back at him.  
“I’m making a sculpture out of bat guano; can you run and get the mail? I’m expecting a check today.”  
“You’re making a sculpture out of bat shit?”  
“Don’t judge me!”  
“Sure I’ll go,” Carly said as she put her robe on and headed downstairs.  
Before she even reached the landing she was smacked in the face by the rankest smell she had ever smelled. He gag reflex kicked in and she worried she’d yack on the steps.  
As she buried her nose in her robe she yelled, “Jesus Spencer, it smells like a sewer down here!”  
“That’s why I wear this mask.”  
“I love you Spencer with all my heart, but literally that shit has got to be out of this place before we get back from the beach and I mean it.”  
“But Carly,” Spencer started to say, only to be silenced by Carly as she interrupted him shaking her head.  
“Out before we get back from the beach,” she then spun around and left to get the mail.  
When the elevator doors openedCarly nearly fainted. Inside was the new doctor that had moved into the building seven months ago, Dr.Tom Trent. He and his wife Gale and their three year old son Max had moved from Ohio to Seattle. Carly would babysit for them sometimes and she had a major crush on Dr. Tom.  
“Well hello Carly,” he smiled and Carly felt like an eight year old girl crushing on her teacher, “I’m glad I ran into you. Gale is going on a three month mission with Doctor’s Without Boarders starting Monday, would you be able to babysit Max some this summer, I’m not talking every day or anything like that, just on some of the nights I’m on call at the hospital and maybe a few days here and there?”  
“I’d love to Dr. Trent,” she smiled at him and absently twirled some of her long dark hair, “just let me know.”  
“Thanks Carly, you’re a lifesaver,” he said as he pulled her into a friendly hug just as the doors opened to the lobby.  
As Dr. Trent walked out the front door Carly stared at him and felt a wave of what she could only believe was arousal for him. She stood there watching and thinking thoughts she shouldn’t about the married doctor till the door began to close and snapped her out of it and she jumped through and headed the mailbox shaking her head, like a dog shakes itself to get water off of it, trying to get the thoughts to go away. They didn’t.

.  
Freddie pulled up in front of Tara’s house and walked up to the door and knocked. When the door opened a woman who looked like she was in her late forties answered the door. Her dark hair was sprinkled with bits of gray here and there. She had small wrinkles around her lips that came from a long time smoking habit and little crow’s feet around her eyes from working to many summers in a garden. She stood no taller than five feet and looked to weight two hundred to two hundred and twenty pounds, though it was hard to tell with the large housecoat she wore.  
“Yes,” she said in a raspy voice that sounded full of phlegm.  
“I’m Freddie Benson ma’am and I’m here to pick Tara up for a day at the beach.”  
“Well come on…” she launched into a cough that sounded like a death rattle for about ten seconds and then spoke again, “Sorry about that. You don’t smoke do you young man?”  
“No ma’am I don’t.”  
“Good, those things will kill you,” she smiled at him as she reached in a pocket and pulled a Pell Mell cigarette and lit it, “Come on it, she’ll be down in a minute. Can I get you something to drink?”  
“No thank you ma’am,” Freddie said and sat on the couch in the living room she walked him to.  
“Sorry my husband isn’t here to meet you, but he’s a contractor and he had to work,” she told him as he watched her take a drag off the cigarette and seconds later blow some of it out through her nose. The whole house had a slight haze from the smoke and the smell was almost more than he could handle.  
At the sounds of someone coming down the stairs he turned his head and saw Tara standing at the bottom of the stairs. She had an oversized looking robe on with flip-flops and a Drake and Josh beach towel over her shoulder. She looked nervous and kept looking down at the floor.  
Freddie stood up and walked over to her and with his index finger raised her chin up till she was looking him in the eyes.  
“You look great,” he smiled at her, “I’ll be the envy of every guy on the beach.”  
“I doubt that very seriously,” Tara tried to look down, but Freddie held her head up.  
“I don’t,” he smiled, “you’ll turn heads, trust me.”  
He kissed her cheek very lightly, her face turning bright red, and turned around to say bye to Tara’s mom, she was lighting another Pell Mell with the butt of the one she had been smoking, and they left.  
“So, you ready to hit the beach and have some fun?” Freddie asked as they pulled out from her street and headed to toward the beach.  
“Yes and no,” she said as she held her left hand out the rolled down window and making her hand look like a wave in the wind, “I excited to spend the day with you guys because let’s face it, I don’t have much… any social life, but I’m not excited about the idea of being laughed at because I’m fat.”  
“Well first off no one is going to laugh at you and if they do, I’ll let Sam beat them to a pulp,” he said with his eyes still on the road, but still able to see the grin spread across her face out of the corner of his eye, “and secondly you’re not fat…”  
She cut him off in a gentle low tone that spoke volumes about the hurt she had endured over the years, “I know, big boned, full figured, stout, more of me to love, more cushion for the pushing, and others I can’t think of at the moment,” she said as she studied the side of his face, “their all just fancy ways to call me fat. I rather be called fat than of those other names, at least it’s honest. Most guys just see the fat and never look any further than that.”  
“Not me, I could care less about weight,” as they stopped at a red light he turned to face her, “I like a woman who knows what she wants and is willing to ask for it, a woman who doesn’t have to have all the flashy stuff and is happy eating a hamburger once and a while instead of steak every meal, someone who listens to me and really wants to be with me for me and not what I can do for them, someone who understands that sometimes you don’t have to talk you can just sit together holding hands and cuddle, oh and of course she has to have massive breast.”  
Tara eyes got as large as plates at the last part of the statement, shocked till she noticed that Freddie was fighting a mighty battle not to laugh, a battle he was rapidly losing, and she began to chuckle which led to giggles and eventually between the two of they laughed through a green light, much to the displeasure of the three cars behind them.  
“Now that’s more like it,” Freddie said after the laughter died down, “You’re really quite beautiful when you laugh and let go of all the self-doubt, did you know that?”  
Tara’s face, already red from the laughter, turned purple and her eyes watered up some, “N… no one but my dad has ever told me I’m beautiful before,” she spoke in an almost whisper and reached out and touched his shoulder as some of the tears rolled down her face, “Thank you. Are you sure that there’s no chance for us to get together?”  
“I’m not saying never,” he touched her left hand with his right, “but like I said, my head is somewhere else right now and it wouldn’t be fair to you. I want to hang out with you and stuff, but you deserve someone who is focused on you and I’m just not there right now. Does that make any sense at all?”  
“Like I told you last night, I understand, but also like I told you last night, I’m going to do my best to make you fall in love with me. Is that ok with you?”  
“Just don’t get hurt, I’d hate myself if I caused you any pain,” he said as he decided he needed to come clean about “The Plan” Brad had cooked up, “Please don’t hate me for this, but Brad came up with this stupid contest about losing our virginity over the summer and that’s why he brought us over to meet you guys. I know it’s a shitty thing to do and if you want to slap me you have every right to and I wouldn’t blame you in the least.”  
“Yeah, I know, Linda did the same thing with Sally and me,” she said with an almost four year olds “I got caught” look on her face, “and well your friend Gibby isn’t the brightest bulb in the pack, he told Sally and didn’t even know he had. Why would I be mad at you about that, I mean you told me the truth last night when, and let’s be honest here, when I would have jumped you in the middle of the floor at the party. So I figured that you weren’t setting out to win that bet.”  
“Nope, I’m not,” he smiled.  
“We also have a side bet on who’s bigger.”  
Freddie frowned, “You can see whose bi… oohh… oohh… ok. I didn’t know girls did stuff like that.”  
“Sure we do,” she smiled at him, “we just cover our pervert ways so much better than boys do. We talk about size…”  
“Size, you talk about size?” he asked nervously.  
“Oh yeah,” she began, “we talk about all kinds of nasty stuff when boys aren’t around. You’d be surprised and probably shocked.”   
“I probably would,” Freddie grinned as he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Tara was looking at his package.

.  
As Carly watched “Girly Cow” Sam sat at the computer idly looking up different ways to cook and serve pork products. She had just hit print, for bacon wrapped pork chop and ham casserole, when someone knocked at the door. Despite herself Sam, now with a white sundress on over the purple suit, sprang up and started to run for the door till she saw Carly grinning at her, and then slowed down and walked. Will had called twenty minutes earlier and said he was on his way.  
Sam was really confused and conflicted about how she felt. Will had tapped into some part of her psyche and unleashed the girly-girl part of her brain. She was anxious to see him and spend the day with him. The butterflies were swarming in her stomach and as much as she hated feeling and acting like that, she was powerless to stop it, and in some ways she didn’t want to. She wanted to look good for him and more than anything she wanted another kiss from him, a longer and deeper kiss.  
She stopped at the door and without knowing she was doing it, ran her hands through her hair to be sure it was in good shape. She also didn’t see Carly’s mouth fall open at that or the near laugh that followed.  
Sam opened the door and felt the butterflies take flight as she looked up at Will’s green eyes and his bright charming smile. He had a green swimsuit on and a penny-tee that said “Duck Off” with a picture of a duck in beach cloths.  
“Hey Sam, how ya doing this morning,” Will opened his arms and gave Sam a slightly longer hug than he had the night before, and seemed to be about to kiss her, but stopped before he did.  
Sam was surprised at how disappointed she was that he hadn’t kissed her, but she managed to keep it hidden, “I’m so ready to hit the beach and have a nice day in the sun.”  
“Well then let’s go,” he smiled at her, “I want ta swing by a quick mart and pick us up some cold drinks. I hear the hotdog and burger stand has great food, but the dude is a down right thief for what he charges for drinks, at least that’s what Wendy said.”  
“You are correct sir,” Sam used her “game show host” voice, “Two bucks for a can of soda. If the food wasn’t so good I’d burn the place down myself.”  
“Wow, Freddie was right,” Will chuckled, “I never want to get on your bad side.”  
“Oh he did, did he, “Sam smiled at Will, “what else did the soon to be late Mr. Benson tell you?”  
“Let me see,” he rubbed his chin, “that you were super cool, funny as hell, a great friend and loyal as hell. Oh and he said to be sure and watch my food carefully or it might grow legs and walk away.”  
Sam smiled as she thought of all the times she had begged, borrowed, or just flat out stole Freddie’s food. As she flashed through the memories of that, another tiny wisp of a thought flew by her. She saw a much younger self and Freddie kissing as they sat on the fire escape. She didn’t know why, but thememory spread a warmth throughout her body and she lost herself in it for a few seconds before shaking her head and coming back to the present.  
“Only the meat products, only the meat products,” she replied.  
“Shall we go madam, your chariot awaits,” Will bowed down as he opened the door, using a truly horrible English accent.  
“To market to market to buy a fat pig, and whatever you guys want to eat also,” Sam wiggled her eyebrows as she walked through the door.  
Before Will shut the door he looked at Carly and told her that he had seen Dale pulling into the parking lot as he came up, and then he closed the door. Carly got up and grabbed her beach bag and for just a second thought about Dr. Trent, wondering what it would be like to kiss him. Like before she shook her head to blast the thought out of her mind, and like before it didn’t help.  
.  
.  
.  
Well there you have it, I’m still setting the stage here, but it’s my hope to give everyone a full blown story with this story. Lots more to come, so stick around and drop me a line and let me know what you think.


	3. Beaches, Meatloaves, And First Dates Part2

Beaches, Meatloaves, And First Dates Part2  
.   
AN= I know this and the other chapters have been long, but I ask you to stick with me, I really am feeling this story and hope to do some special things with it. So read on and discover, PLEASE!

 

Dale found himself bouncing just a little bit as he rode the elevator up to Carly’s floor. He was nervous, but in a good way. He was surprised that Carly had turned out to be so down to earth and accessible, seeing that she was a web star and all. He quickly cupped his hand in front of his mouth and huffed out a breath, just to make sure it didn’t stink and then did the “pit sniff” just to be sure and settled back into his nervous bounce.  
Dale Watson wasn’t a football player, a brain, or anything that made him stand out, but all his life girls had flocked to him. When he was younger it had been a curse to have the little girls follow him around because girls were icky and had cooties. When he reached ten years old something magical happened and cooties gave way to boobies and suddenly having girls following him around wasn’t so bad. He shot up to the height he was now, five-eleven and a half, which made him the tallest boy in class, at age twelve and his voice got a rich baritone sound that seemed to drive girls wild. He was always careful about how he treated the girls he dated, his mother had drilled into his head the way a gentleman should act around a lady, and he had dated some truly nice girls.  
Lately he had begun to feel like he was more of an accessory on the arms of the last two girls he had dated than a boyfriend. He had started the year with Kate, but had quickly soured on her constant need to be at the hippest party or seen at the newest restaurant. She would always plan the night in advance and on more than one occasion she had picked out what he wore, so they would match. The whole thing had come to a head at Tommy James’s New Year’s Eve party. He had caught her talking to some of her friends about how she had him “under her thumb” and how he would “never do anything that she didn’t want him too!” He promptly stood in front of her and her friends and broke up with her, which he was sure she had not wanted him to do, and felt better about himself than he had in months.  
Just before Valentine’s Day, Jackie had begun to show up, always somewhere close to him. She would be in gym when he was there, outside classes as he would leave, “The Groovy Smoothie” when he would enter or leave, so he naturally began to talk to her, and at first things went great. He was pleased with the way they were headed, till he found out she was using him to climb the social ladder in school. It seemed that by dating him she could get asked to all the cool parties and stuff, and because he was a gentleman she didn’t have to put out to get there. The thing that had really hurt him was the fact that she was putting out for everyone but him while they had been dating. He broke up with her the Friday night before prom and ended up going stag.  
He stopped himself at Carly’s door and did his usual pre-date ritual, shook his entire body and blew out three breaths, and then knocked on the door.  
.  
Carly was lost in the thought of Dr. Trent, Tom, slowly and passionately kissing her as he ran his hands through her hair, when the knock on the door jarred her from the fantasy and back to the present. She jumped at the sound and then she took a quick look in the mirror by the door to see how she looked.  
‘You look like a girl who’s daydreaming about a very married older man while she has a date with one of the cutest and nicest guys you’ve met in a long, long time,’ she thought as she tried to lose the thoughts of Tom from her mind, ‘What would the world think if they knew that the “iCarly” girl was thinking about getting it on with an older married man? Never mind that, what would Spencer say if he found out about it?’  
She wacked the side of her head with the palm of her hand, like she was trying to dislodge the thoughts from her mind and plastered her patented “Carly” smile on her face and opened the door. She was greeted by the dazzling smile of Dale, and at least for the moment Tom Trent vanished from her mind, and “smile” faded into a very real expression of joy.  
“Wow,” Dale said as he took in the sight of Carly in her pink suit with the white shear sundress she wore over it, “Y…you look hot…ea…I mean beautiful,” his face quickly went maroon at his slip of the tongue.   
Carly smiled and looked down at her pink toenails, twisting a strand of hair around her index finger before she looked up at him and flashed a smile that put the sun to shame, “Thanks Dale.”  
She looked at him, in his brown trunks and black mesh shirt that showed of his tanned, smooth, and hairless chest, and felt the little “fangirl” side of her begin to do a little happy dance in her mind.  
‘God, he’s so damn hot, I want to just rub myself all over him,’ she thought as she tried to say anything, her eyes roaming his body like Sam at a meat counter.  
“You look great too,” she finally managed to say after several seconds.  
“You ready to go?” he asked.  
“You betcha,” she grinned and threw her keys in her bag and yelled to Spencer, “Spencer, Dale and I are leaving to go to the beach.”  
Spencer opened the door to his room and the awful stench of bat guano escaped the room like wave, destroying the mood of the two teens, “Be careful you two,” he rounded the corner, bat guano covering almost every part of his body.  
Carly quickly brought her left arm up to cover here nose and mouth as she screamed and her eyes tiered up, “Christ Spencer,” she fought the urge to vomit, “I told you to get that shit out of here. If it’s still here when I get back I swear to God I’ll let Sam loose on you with her butter sock. Do you hear me?”  
“But Carly,” Spencer started to say.  
“Not another word Spencer,” Dale had retreated to the semi-safety of the hallway and at least a crosswind of fresh air as Carly backed out, “get that shit out of here or Sam and her butter sock will beat your ass!”  
She slammed the door and bent down, her hands on her knees, gulping the semi-fresh air of the hall and wiping the tears out of her eyes.  
“Oh my God Dale, I’m so sorry about that and my idiot brother,” Carly managed to get out as the two of them made it to a window and fresh air, “Are you alright?”  
After three gagging motions and two deep breaths Dale turned to her, “What in the hell was that?”  
“My brother, Spencer, he’s an artist,” she looked at and shrugged her shoulders, embarrassed.   
“Really?” Dale said, much more sarcastically than he met for it to sound.  
“Spencer is … well Spencer is special.”  
“Oh, is he like a savant or something?”  
“No, no more like a dipshit,” she smiled at him, “But he is a really cool brother… I mean when he’s not playing with shit.”   
Dale began to shake and choke for a second before he lost control and began to laugh, a deep rumble of laughter that seemed to come from the bottom of his feet and out through his mouth, bending himself over, hands on his knees.  
Carly was laughing also, but at the same time thinking about how sexy his laugh was and how handsome it made him.  
After the laughter died down they went to the elevator, pushing the down button and engaging in random chit-chat till it arrived.  
As they stepped off the elevator and into the lobby, Lewbert screaming into the phone on his desk about something neither of them could make out, they ran into Dr. Trent coming in the building.  
“Say thanks again Carly for agreeing to babysit for me this summer; Gale was so relieved to know that Max would be in good hands,” he told her.  
“Happy to help,” Carly said with a half “moony” school girl blush on her face.  
As the doctor continued past them Carly felt a warm sensation flash throughout her body and the mental picture of the two of them locked in a passionate embrace filled her thoughts. She couldn’t understand why this was happening to her or how to turn it off, but she knew she should, after all he was married, over half her age, and she had the beginnings of something good going on with Dale. DALE!  
“What, I’m sorry, what did you say?” she asked as she suddenly realized he had been talking while she was lost in her little “crush” zone.  
“I said that it’s nice of you to babysit form them so they can go out,”   
“Oh,” Carly shook her head, “no. You see Mrs. Trent is going on a mission trip for Doctors Without Borders this summer and they want me to watch Max, their son, on the days that Mr. Trent has to work late or is on call.”  
“Still, that’s nice of you,” he smiled at her and took her hand as they kept walking to his car.  
‘She sure did seem to fawn over that Trent guy,” he thought as he opened the car door for her and then shut it and walked around to get in himself, “ah, probably just my imagination.’  
He started the car and pulled out of the parking lot heading to the beach.

.  
.  
By a quarter after ten the three couples were standing in front of the snack stand, Will carrying a large cooler with iced down sodas and water, Sam with a volleyball, Freddie and Tara each carrying a bag of snacks, Carly had a huge blanket under her arm, and Dale had a Frisbee and a cordless ipear dock so they could play music.  
It didn’t take them long to find a spot to “set up camp” as the beach was only about half full. Once they laid everything out they all decided to hit the water first. Dale and Will slipped off their flip-flops and then removed their shirts. Both boys were very well toned and had a little bit of a tan already. While Dale had no hair except for a small trail under his bellybutton, Will had some at the top of his chest and some just at the top of his bellybutton and below it. Both boys drew appreciative glances from up and down the beach and from Sam, Carly, and Tara.  
Tara removed her robe and showed her turquoise one piece. She was easily a d-cup or larger and had thick thighs and legs, but with her hair down and loose like she wore it today and the new confidence that Freddie was instilling in her, she looked breathtaking. She turned almost purple when Freddie, Will, and Dale whistled at her.  
Sam and Carly removed their sundresses and flip-flops and the whole group turned and looked at Freddie, who still had not removed his shirt or dive shoes.  
“What?” he turned around to look behind him and then back to face them again.  
“Time to strip nub,” Sam smiled and wiggled her eyebrows.  
“Yeah … um I think you need to remove the shirt, ducky,” Will said with a slight lisp, putting his hands on his hips in a most feminine manner.  
Dale struck the same pose and just stared at Will, “Bitch, I saw him first. Don’t make me yank that weave off your head sweetie.”  
“I’m not that kind of girl,” Freddie said as he unfolded his towel to cover himself up.  
“Bullshit,” Sam said and stepped forward and snatched the towel away from him.  
Freddie shrieked like a girl and pretended to cover his chest and private parts.  
“Come on Fredturd, off with it so we can hit the water,” she laughed.  
There was only one cloud visible in the sky and at the very moment that Freddie removed his shirt it passed over the sun in such a way that it caused a sunburst around him which caused the women, from all over the beach, to do double takes and risk whiplash to get a look.  
Tara felt her knees try to buckle at the sight of his toned and tanned hairy chest and chiseled muscular arms. She felt a heat travel through her body and found herself unable to speak at all.  
Carly and Sam just stood stunned at the sight of their shirtless friend.  
“When… when… when…,” Carly tried to say.  
Sam slapped the side Carly’s head, like she was trying to get a cd to quit skipping.  
“Thank you,” Carly said, never looking at her friend, “When the hell did he grow up and turn into that?”  
“Damned if I know,” Sam just stared at Freddie, forgetting everyone and everything around her, as a strange feeling of pure lust took hold of her, “but the nub done grown up real nice and sexy. Momma likes.”  
“What did you say Sam?” Carly asked her.  
Sam suddenly realized that she must have spoken out loud and that Will, HER DATE WILL, was very close by and said, “I said well alright let’s hit the water.”  
The six of them took off toward the water and dove into the surf. After several minutes of swimming, the couples began an old fashion game of “splash” that quickly became a battle of the sexes. There was no clear winner, but from the laughter and smiles as they left the water and headed for the towel, no one cared.  
Tara marveled at how free and unconcerned she was with her weight. No one had laughed at her, in fact they had whistled at her and Freddie had several times taken her hand as they walked. She even caught Sam’s date Will looking at her chest in an approving manner. She had never in her life felt so accepted and carefree. She watched Freddie and the guy’s head to the stand to get hot dogs and hamburgers for them, and found herself wondering what it would feel like to really kiss him and feel his hands on her body. She wondered what it would feel like to run her hands over his body. She wanted to run her hands through his chest hair and lay her head on the soft hair and hear his heart beat as she traced circles over his chest and stomach. She wanted to run her hand down inside of his swimsuit and graze her hand over…  
“Honey, if you were a guy, you would have a huge woody going on right now,” Sam whispered in her ear and giggled in a most unSam like fashion.  
Blushing at being caught in a nasty fantasy, Tara rolled over and covered her face as she laughed, “Oh my God! Was I that obvious?”  
Sam laughed and good naturedly shook Tara’s shoulders, “You practically had him undressed and were humping him.”  
All three girls were laughing now and Tara leaned in and whispered, “Is he always so… so… oh who am I kidding here, is he always so charming and sexy?”  
Carly and Sam looked at each other and the telepathy flowed between them and then they both turned and looked at Tara.  
“Yes is the answer to your first question,” Carly answered.  
“And we had no idea is the answer to the second question,” Sam answered, “Freddie is, and if either of you tell him I said this I’ll be forced to bet the shit out of you, a great guy Tara. He cares about his friends and would do anything for them, he doesn’t judge people by how they look, he judges people by how they act, and if you’re worried about him doing this as some kind of prank to make fun of you or hurt you, don’t because he would never do that to anyone, even me and let’s face it I deserve it after the things I’ve done to him over the years. He likes you or he wouldn’t be asking you to join us.”  
Tara nodded at Sam and smiled, “I know, He told me last night that liked me, but he had a crush on someone right now and wasn’t looking to “go steady” at the moment.”  
“He said he had a crush on someone?” Sam raised her eyebrow as she asked, “Did he say who?”  
Tara decided that she probably shouldn’t have said anything about it, so she just shook her head and said, “No he didn’t. Listen; please don’t say anything to him about this. I kind of think he told me in private and maybe I shouldn’t have told you guys.”  
“We won’t say a word,” Carly and Sam told her.  
“Thanks,” Tara relaxed a little, “I did tell him that I was going to try to make him fall in love with me. Do you guys think I have any chance in hell of doing that?”  
Sam smiled at her, “It’s possible, just don’t get hurt if it doesn’t.”  
“That’s what he said.”  
As the conversation went on something kept gnawing at Sam’s brain, ‘Who the hell is the nub crushing on?’ she thought as she drifted out of the conversation and into her own mind, ‘I know for a fact he hasn’t been crushing on Carly in a long time. I haven’t seen him around anyone but Carly, Tara, and me, did he see someone out sometime when he was alone, and why do I care at all?’  
“Sam, earth to Sam,” Carly shook Sam’s shoulder and snatched her back to the beach, “We asked you how things were going for you and Will.”  
“Oh, sorry kind spaced out for a minute,” Sam grinned at them, “Will is different from the guys I’ve dated, he’s nice. He listens to me and he makes me laugh, almost as much as Freddie does. He also happens to be HOT! I mean you saw him, Fr…Will when he took his shirt off, I really want this to work out.”  
While Tara didn’t hear Sam’s slip, Carly didn’t miss a thing.  
‘I knew it,’ Carly thought, ‘Sam can lie to everyone, including herself, but not to me. Something is going on between the two of them and I don’t think they know it.’  
The guys came back with the burgers and dogs and the six of them sat and ate and talked about the trivial things that make life so fun when you are young. After they finished they split into teams, Freddie, Tara, and Carly on one team and Will, Dale and Sam on the other, and started to play touch football. In reality five played touch football, Sam played no holds barred, balls to the wall rugby. She tackled, tripped, stiff armed, pounded, and otherwise dominated everyone, even her own team. It got so bad that the game morphed into a game of tag, or with Sam playing, “Please don’t hurt me, I think I’m a bleeder”.  
The day turned out to be a perfect summer Saturday and time flew by. Freddie looked at his watch and saw that it was a quarter of four and stood up and offered his hand to help Tara get up.  
“This has been great guys,” he smiled, “but I promised that lady I’d get her computer hooked up and working so she could video chat with her husband tonight. Maybe we should do this again next Saturday.”  
They all agreed and made plans to do just that. Freddie took Tara’s hand and carried her bag as they walked to his car.  
“Did you have a good time today?” he asked her.  
Tara smiled up at him and walked a little closer to his side, her hand flexing with his, “It was the second best day of my life, the best day was yesterday when I met you.”  
Freddie let go of her hand and slipped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into a hug.  
“Thank you,” he said, “now didn’t I tell you no one would make fun of you?”  
“Oh I bet someone probably laughed at me, but I didn’t hear them or care,” she chuckled, “By the way, that whistle I got from you guys, now that has never happened to me before. I liked that a lot. Feel free to whistle at me anytime you like.”  
“With pleasure,” he smiled as he took his arm from around her shoulder, “and by the way, from this angle, I can totally see down your swimsuit, very nice boobies you have.”  
He took off like he was shot out of a cannon, running towards the car and laughing. Tara blushed and took off after him giggling, “You are so dead you pervert.”  
By the time they reached the car both of them were out of breath and laughing. They loaded the stuff in the trunk and then Freddie opened the car door for her and helped her in. After he got in and started the car she leaned over toward him and said, “Any chance I can see if I win the bet about the size?”  
It was now Freddie’s turn to blush. He spoke sounding like girl, “Honey you got to put a ring on it if you want to see, this cow don’t milk for free.”  
They both laughed hard and began to just chat and sing along to the songs on the radio. Both of them were amazed at how natural and easy it felt hanging out together.  
It was four-ten when he pulled into her driveway and after helping her out of the car he walked her to the porch of her house. She turned around and looked up into his eyes and he saw that she was misty eyed as she took both his hands into hers.  
“Thank you,” she whispered, “I’ve never had this much fun in my life, ever,” she ran a hand on his cheek, “You made me feel special and pretty. No man, other than my father, ever made me feel pretty.”  
Freddie put his hand on top of hers and pulled it away from his face and kissed her palm, “You are special and pretty every day, you just don’t see it because you look at yourself through other people’s eyes instead of your own. Beauty shines out of you all the time, because you’re a beautiful person. So would you like to go out to eat and see a movie tomorrow night at say six-thirty or so?”  
Her face took on a glow that surprised Freddie with its brilliance as she smiled at him as she nodded her head yes.  
“It’s a date then, I’ll call you tomorrow,” he said as he leaned down to kiss her cheek. She turned her cheek and their lips touched.  
Tara wasn’t sure if this was real anymore.  
‘Fat girls like me don’t get attention, except the bad kind, from guys like Freddie. They don’t get kisses, touches, doors held open for them, and they sure as hell never get second dates,’ she thought as she melted away and into the kiss, ‘he’s not pulling away like he’s disgusted or anything, oh what the hell.’  
She opened her mouth a little and wiggled her tongue on his lips, which opened for her, and felt his tongue touch hers very softly.  
‘Ok, I’m on my front porch, with Freddie Benson’s tongue in my mouth,’ she thought, ‘I’m gonna be really pissed if this turns out to be just a dream.’  
After fifteen seconds, or twelve hours, she wasn’t sure, the porch light flicked on and off signaling daddy was home and watching, ‘Damn it daddy, go watch T.V. or something and let me make out with Freddie. A good thing he didn’t come look ten seconds later because I was about to put Freddie’s hand on my boobs and my hand on his “tallywacker”, and that would have got us both killed,’ she thought.  
They broke from the kiss and Freddie smiled at her, “I don’t think your father enjoyed that very much.”  
“Fuck ‘em,” she said in a low voice and giggled.  
Freddie laughed, “I had a great time, but I’m afraid that I’m going to hurt you Tara. I mean nothing has changed for me yet, you know?”  
“I know Freddie and I’m going to be ok,” she touched his face again, “and I still intend to get you to fall for me.”  
He grinned and winked at her, “You just might, you just might.”  
The porch light flashed again and Freddie backed up, “I’ll call you tomorrow, good night Tara.”   
He spun around and walked back to his car and drove off. He couldn’t help but smile as he looked in the rear view mirror and saw Tara doing a happy dance on the porch.  
.  
.  
“Are you sure you’re ok?” Sam asked as Will drove her back to Bushwell, “I’m really sorry about your back.”  
“Sure I’m fine,” he said with a groan, “you just don’t see many roundhouse kicks when you’re playing touch football, T.O.U.C.H. F.O.O.T.B.A.L.L.,” he spelled the words out to her as he laughed, “Freddie said you were very competitive, he just didn’t tell me HOW competitive you were.”  
“Yeah, momma doesn’t like to lose,” she grinned.  
Will shot a sideways glance at Sam and marveled at his great luck in meeting Sam. He had had a few girlfriends in New Mexico, but none of them had been serious. A few make out sessions, first base, second base, and three times third base, but no further than that. When he and his parents moved to Seattle a month ago he had already finished school so he didn’t have to go and had missed out on meeting people. He wasn’t all that upset about the move because he would finally get his own room and his nuthug little brother would have one to, no more sharing.  
Wendy had brought him to the party and then just left him to flounder on his own. He had spotted Sam right away and thought she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. He had figured that the way she was sitting with the boy that he now knew was Freddie and was talking and cutting up with him that they were a couple. They had looked and acted like one and he had figured that he was s.o.l. with her. He would be forever thankful that Carly had pushed Sam into him, because that had led to this, the two of them spending the day together.  
“How does “momma” feel about getting some dinner tonight and maybe catching a movie?” he asked.  
“Momma would be very open to that were she too be asked,” she smiled and looked at his profile as he drove. She thought that he looked amazing. She had notice throughout the day that he would look at her and smile and would reach out and take her hand, which she had never been fond of in the past, but she found it most enjoyable with him. She found it easy to talk and cut up with him. She liked that she had a clean slate with Will; she knew that other than the things Freddie had told him and maybe Wendy, he didn’t know her as the trouble maker who was once the delinquent of the month at the police station, they even had a cell that was fixed up just for her and she knew every policeman in the precinct by his first name and about their families. They had become her unofficial third family, behind her real family and Carly and Freddie.  
She knew that nether Freddie or Wendy had brought out her more sordid past endeavors to Will and that made this a real chance for her to change and become more than the tomboy she had always been. She didn’t want to be a girly-girl, all helpless and weak, handing over control to any guy, even someone as nice as Will, it just wasn’t her, but she found herself wanting to soften up some, to show the side of her that loved her deranged cat and the mangy puppy that hung around “The Groovy Smoothie”, the side that thought of Carly as a sister that she would die for, the side that felt like Freddie was an amazing man, not a boy or a nub, but a man who was seriously hot and sexy. She found herself more than surprised at the thought of Freddie as sexy, but she couldn’t help but notice that he had become someone she could count on and who on more than a few occasions had gotten her motor running as of late.  
She smiled at the thought and then frowned as she wondered why Freddie had popped into her head. She looked at Will and saw that he hadn’t noticed the frown and brought the smile back. He was silently singing to the song “Poker Face” on the radio and she and it turned her smile into a silent laugh.  
He turned and saw her and his face went red as his mouth stuck in the “po” of poker and he found himself unable to make it go away.  
“I thought you didn’t sing?” she tried not to laugh, failing miserably at the task, “I was wondering why the dogs along the streets were so upset.”  
“I wasn’t singing, I was lip syncing, thank you very much,” his face still red as a beat.  
As if on cue, the sound of several dogs barking cut over the sound of the wind and the radio and both of them burst into laughter.  
“Son-of-a-bitch, everyone’s a critic,” he said between laughs, as Sam began bouncing up and down in the seat, laughing till she snorted loudly, and then lost all control as tears flowed from her eyes.   
Will pulled over into a grocery store parking lot and got control of himself. As the laughter stopped he reached out his right hand and placed it on her cheek, “I love the sound of your laughter,” he spoke low and deep, “you light up the world when you laugh, do you know that?”  
They both leaned into each other and when their lips touched they both felt the fireworks go off. Will pulled her closer with his right hand and they both sank into the kiss. Sam felt his tongue run along the grove between both lips and parted them to accept it. The kiss wasn’t an animalistic one, but a slow sensual kiss that didn’t feel or need to be rushed.  
And then it was over, their lips separated and their foreheads touched as they opened their eyes and looked at each other.  
“I’ …, I uh…, wow,” Will found himself unable to speak.  
“Um, …, yeah,” Sam smiled as they both sat upright in their seats and looked off into the distance at nothing and everything at once.  
“So seven o’clock?” Will managed to sputter out.  
“What, oh… um… yeah seven sounds good,” Sam said as Will pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward Bushwell.  
They were silent for the rest of the trip, each lost in the romantic fog of their kiss. Sam got out of the car when they arrived and told him not to get out, that she would be fine and see him at seven. She watched him drive away and noticed he stared at her in the rearview mirror as he went. She tried to wipe the silly, goofy smile that crept across her face off, but she couldn’t. When Lewbert screamed at her as she walked in, Sam walked over to the desk and leaned over and gave him a hug and a kiss on the non-wart side of his face as she said, “Aw, lighten up sunshine, it’s summer and love is in the air.”  
She didn’t stick around and see Lewbert grab his chest and fall over backwards with his feet sticking straight up in the air.  
.  
.  
Carly and Dale stayed at the beach after everyone else left. They laid with his head beside her and his and her bodies facing different directions. If seen from the air, the position would have shown how close in height they were and how much they both were fighting the urge to touch the other.  
“So your dad’s in the Air Force, but he’s stationed on a submarine?” Dale said to the small cloud that floated just inside his field of vision.  
“Yeah, I’ve never quite understood that myself,” Carly spoke to the same cloud as it entered her sight, “Every time I ask he tells me it’s a military secret and just blows it off.”  
“That’s kinda cool really,” Dale smiled at the sky, “like he’s James Bond or something. That would mean I’m at the beach with Bond’s daughter,” he sat up suddenly scanning up and down the beach.  
Carly remained where she was, “What are you looking for?” she laughed.  
“Agents of SPECTRE,” he grinned before laying back down.  
Carly laughed and playfully slapped his arm, feeling the charge of excitement pass between the two of them and left her hand on his arm, “You’re so goofy.”  
They turned to face each other and found themselves looking at each other’s lips first and then into each other’s eyes. The charge passed between them again, only through the eyes and both swore that fireworks went off.  
“This has been such a great day Carly,” Dale touched her hand as it rested on his arm, “Lately I’ve felt more like an accessory, like a broach or shoes, than a boyfriend to the girls I’ve dated. They think that if they date me that it gets them into the upper list of the cool or something. Not a one of the seemed to give a rat’s ass about me or how I felt. I mean I’m not just a popular guy, I like stuff and I really care about some things. I’ve got a great-granddad in a nursing home nearby, he lied and joined the Marines when he was sixteen during World War II and he’s still as sharp as a tack. He tells the most amazing stories,” Carly marveled at how bright his eyes became as he talked about his great-grandfather, and found herself desperately wanting to kiss him at that moment, “He’s always wanting me to bring my girlfriend with me, but they would never come. I know it’s not the trendy club or the best place to be seen, but that old man has stories that would blow your mind and he’s funny as hell. If you want to spend time with the coolest guy ever, spend a day with my popie and you’ll know what cool really is.”  
Carly just stared at Dale for a moment, the warm and fuzzy feeling in her stomach making her feel giddy and happy beyond belief, “I’d like to meet him,” she smiled and brought her hand down to Dale’s.  
Dale smiled and squeezed her hand gently, “Really, you’d come with me on Sunday to go see him?” the light danced from his eyes like sparkles of moonbeams and his smile, Carly thought, put the sun to shame.  
“Sure, you know how I feel about the military and those who serve or served,” she almost wanted to cry as she saw the joy that danced in his eyes.  
He leaned in closer to her, “Well that kind of brings up my next point,” he touched her face, “I know it’s too soon to ask you to be my girlfriend, but since you’re going to meet my popie and all, would you like to go to dinner tonight and maybe see a movie or something. The Plaza Theater is running the pilot movie for the old T.V. show “It Takes A Thief”, I watch that with my popie all the time, it’s his favorite old show. Anyway, the Plaza is a great old forties type theater with balconies and they show cartoons and previews and old short subject movies just like they did in the forties and fifties. It’s super cool and fun.”  
Carly leaned in closer to him and whispered, “Yes,” as Dale leaned the rest of the way in and kissed her. Despite being upside down from each other, the kiss was a passionate one. Carly welcomed his tongue with her own and felt a charge as his hand touched the back of her head, deeping the kiss. For a few seconds the world disappeared and the two of them were the only people on the planet.  
They broke the kiss and smiled as they stood and packed up and headed to the car to go back to Bushwell.  
.  
.   
Carly watched Dale drive away and skipped into the lobby, prepared for the harangue Lewbert would rain down on her for skipping in his lobby. She stopped cold when she saw Spencer sitting behind the desk in Lewbert’s jacket, the ancient C.B. radio that had almost got him killed, sitting on top of the desk as he worked setting it up.  
“Spencer, what are you doing behind that desk and why on earth did you dig that piece of junk out again?” she scolded him, “Last time it almost got you killed.”  
“Well sister of mine, it seems Lewbert had a stroke this afternoon and they rushed him to the hospital,’ Spencer said with just a touch to much glee in his voice, “so until he’s able to work again, they asked me to fill in for him. The C.B. is out because it’s cool and Chuck is stuck at math camp again this year so he can’t rat me out to the truckers.”  
“I see a fire or a fight in the near future of the lobby,” Carly shook her head as she put her arms on the desk, “Well anyway, I have a date with Dale tonight, so I have to go get ready. Can I trust you not to get into too much trouble tonight, and that I’ll have an apartment building to come back too?”  
“Carly are you seriously questioning whether or not I can watch this building and keep it safe?” Spencer asked indigently as he plugged in the power cord to the radio and the socket sparked and began to flame.  
“I’ll get the fire extinguisher,” Carly rolled her eyes and walked to the wall and pulled the extinguisher down and brought it to her brother.  
“How does that happen?” he yelled, a stricken look on his face, as he put the flame out.  
Carly didn’t answer, she just walked to the elevator and pushed the up button. She heard a noise of a small child behind her and turned to see Max and Tom Trent enter the lobby and stare at Spencer for a second, both of them turning their heads sideways before joining her at the elevator.  
“Karwee,” Max yelled and hugged her legs, “Daddy said woo was going to babysit me this summer.”  
She smiled at the boy and picked him up, ‘that’s right little dude. I’ll watch you some of the time ,” she hugged him back.  
Tom smiled at her and for just a second their eyes locked, and Carly felt him look down at her, she hadn’t put her sundress on when she had left the beach, and she felt a warm tingling throughout her body. It wasn’t the warm fuzzy feeling she had felt with Dale, this was a hot flush that made her long to be kissed and touched by the doctor, to be taken to bed and have him touch her, remove her cloths, and make love to her. She could see it in his eyes and she knew he must see it in hers, and she though she knew it was wrong, she didn’t feel ashamed by it at all. She smiled at Tom and unconsciously licked her lips as they stared at one another with seductive eyes. The elevator door opened and Gale Trent stepped out, “Well there are my two men, I thought I was going to have to go to work without seeing you two before I left,” she picked Max up, missing the look of guilt on Tom and Carly’s face. She kissed the boy and then drew her husband into a deep kiss.  
Tom stuttered for a second as he spoke, “W…www… why don’t we walk mommy to the car little man,” he shot a look at Carly for a second and their eyes locked. Both knew what had happened or almost happened and knew that things weren’t anywhere near over between them yet.  
Carly stepped into the elevator and looked at herself in the reflection of the polished metal. She was surprised that she didn’t recognize the face looking back at her. The sweet young girl who had made a date with a young boy named Dale wasn’t who she saw. She saw a young woman who was about to go against everything she believed in, she saw a woman who was about to drift into an affair with a married father of one child while she dated a nice boy from school. She also saw someone who was already too far invested in the feelings to care or stop the events from happening. 

 

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Oh my, the summer is heating up. Plenty more action to come.

Please let me know what you think.


	4. Beaches, Meatloaves, And First Dates Part 3

Beaches, Meatloaves, And First Dates Part 3  
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A/N=I have discovered that what I had planned to do with this story has morphed on me. I wanted to bring all the characters to life as best as I could. I wanted them all to seem real and to have a voice and stake in the story. I have even decided to write for Spencer, whom I don’t care for as a character that much, and make him more than just a pedophile firebug.   
All of this is a roundabout way to say that this story is going to evolve at a leisurely pace. I know what is going to happen and I’ll get the story there, but I am going to take my time about it. As I told some friends of mine here, “My iCarly story is turning into an iCarly novel. I hope to make this interesting for all of you and that you stick with me and this story because I’m hoping to do something different with it than I have ever done before. A special shout out to my Cabal brothers and sisters and special thanks to Pigwiz and White Knightro for the advice and support. Some of the best stuff in this story came from their encouragement and those chats we had. I also want to thank my beautiful wife Tamathy for giving me a reason to get up every morning and for the short subject that will be joining the Moviepal household sometime in February of next year! Now, you’ve wasted reading time reading this A/N, please start reading.  
P.S. I never say it but I think you know, I don’t own iCarly. If I did this season would have been much better.  
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Freddie stood in front of his bathroom mirror for the second time of the day. His hair was still just a bit wet and he had a towel wrapped around his waist. He studied his reflection, something he found himself doing a lot more of the past few days, and tried to make sure no pimples or blackheads showed. It would be beyond embarrassing to be sitting across the table looking at her and talking with a pimple somewhere on his face screaming “I’m a kid, I’m just a pimple having boy that secretly masturbates while I think about you”, that would be the worst.  
He shook his head and began to brush his teeth for the third time in as many minutes. ‘No halitosis for me’ he thought and he vigorously brushed. He knew the whole thing was crazy and could name several reasons why he should give up the crush:  
.  
1\. She’s married and her husband is a Marine who could probably snap you like a twig   
2\. She’s five years older than you  
3\. She most likely doesn’t think of you in that way  
4\. Even if she did think of you in that way, you have no idea what you’re doing  
5\. And last but not least, adultery is a sin and you don’t approve of it and would never do that to anyone.  
.  
‘Sometimes it sucks to have morals,’ he thought as he combed his hair, ‘You say all this, yet here you are primping like you’re heading out on a date. Why can’t I be more like Sam, act on my impulses without thought, do whatever strikes my fancy when I want to. Just once I want to jump in with both feet before I look to see what’s below.’  
He gargled for the fourth time as he realized that despite how he had tried to rebel against his mother, she had done her work to well, he would probably always be a planer and someone who needed everything organized in order to function. The closest he probably would ever get to wild would be eating small amounts of fried foods, that is if Sam didn’t take them from him first.  
He spit the mouthwash out and smacked his lips. He looked again at himself and spoke, “Melissa you look lovely tonight. Can you feel the attraction between us? It would be so wrong to let this magic between us go unused. We owe ourselves, we owe the world the passion that burns inside of us for each other. Let’s not fight it or play games with it, let’s make love my darling, here, now.”  
He raised an eyebrow and tried to make a sexy face, but ended up looking like he had been constipated for a week instead. He laughed at himself and turned around and walked back into his bedroom.  
“That was some lame ass shit you just threw out there nub,” he laughed.  
Freddie spoke out loud to himself so much that he wasn’t always aware that he did it, just like he wasn’t aware that at least half the time he spoke to himself like Sam would speak to him. As he dressed he replayed his first meeting with Melissa in his head. He saw her in the shorts she had had on and the shirt that was tied above her bellybutton, her long red hair and her magnificent breasts. He could hear her melodious voice as she spoke.  
It wasn’t till he tucked his shirt in that he became aware that he had a raging hard on. He knew that there was no way he could go to her apartment with a hard on.  
He quickly sat on the bed and began to think back to mother and son’s pottery classes, mother and son’s collage book classes, his mom’s meatless, meatless rib’s, and her tofu flavored tofu. With these ideas in his head the hard on began to finally subside, slowly. After he finally got control of himself he stood and walked back into the bathroom and splashed on some aftershave. Returning to his room he picked up the briefcase toolbox of electrical tools he had save a whole year for when he was thirteen, and made sure he had everything he would need and everything that she might not have to hook up her computer. He looked at himself in the mirror one more time, blowing out a puff of air, “Just be cool Freddie, just be cool. Don’t do anything that will embarrass yourself or that will get a Marine to want to kill you when he gets home.”  
He nodded to himself as he walked out of his apartment and began to sing under his breath a Richard Marx song that had become stuck in his head the last few days, “Well, I think that I've been true to everybody else but me, And the way I feel about you makes my heart long to be free, Every time I look into your eyes I'm helplessly aware, That the someone I've been searching for is right there. Hold on to the night, Hold on to the memory, I wish that I could give you something more,That I could be yours.”

.  
For once in her life Sam was nervous about a date. Jeans, a penny tee, and converse sneakers simply wouldn’t do for tonight. She wanted to still be herself, she just wanted to be the feminine side of herself. For once she wanted Carly’s help in picking out cloths and getting her hair and make-up right. She didn’t want to be Barbie, she just didn’t want to be G.I. Joe either. She wanted Will to see the softer side, the side that wanted another kiss like they had shared in the car, the side that wanted him to hold doors open for her like Freddie did, the side that now craved to have him hold her hand again.  
Sam was pacing the floor, a can of air spray in hand trying to get the last of the shit smell out of the apartment. She had been waiting for Carly for over twenty minutes now and was getting anxious now as in was almost five o’clock and Sam was impatient to get the show on the road. She opened the door and looked out into the hallway and around the corner to see if she was getting off the elevator. She spotted Freddie waiting for it to come, singing under his breath the tune he had hummed last night. She couldn’t help but notice that he looked incredibly handsome as he stood there. She couldn’t recall him ever looking so ruggedly handsome before. She felt a brief flash of something she couldn’t identify as she stared at him silently. She felt like she had never seen this Freddie before, and she felt like she wanted to see more of him.  
“Thought you were hooking up a computer for that Marine’s wife, Fredwardo,” Sam said, laughing as Freddie jumped, a startled look on his face, “You got a date with Tara after or something?”  
“Damn it Sam,” Freddie laughed as the embarrassment faded from his face, “now I gotta change my underwear. I think I shit myself. What the hell are you doing skulking around the hallway, looking for unsuspecting school kids to steal lunch money from?”  
“I haven’t done that since we were in tenth grade nub,” she laughed.  
“I know and I want my money back.”  
Sam wasn’t aware of it, but as they spoke she began to walk closer to him, “Got change for a ten?”  
“No, but give me the ten and I’ll get your change back to you later,” Freddie cocked his head to the side just a bit as he spoke.  
Sam was now within arm’s reach of him and she could smell the cologne he was wearing and suddenly she found that she couldn’t remember why she had walked so close.  
“You got a hot date with Will tonight?” Freddie asked; causing her to jump just a little and bringing her out of the confusion she was lost it.  
“Uh… yeah, I mean I guess,” she sputtered as she tried to regain some of her composure, “I mean he’s taking me out to eat and see a movie. You never answered my question nub, you going out with Tara later?”  
“No, we’re going out tomorrow night, why?”  
“You just looked dressed up like you’re going on a date,” Sam looked him up and down far longer than she meant to.  
“No just hooking up Melissa, I mean Mrs. Langford’s computer so she can video chat with her husband,” Freddie tried to keep anything about his goofy crush on Melissa from showing as he spoke, “and I think she wants me to meet him, Charlie, because they want to discuss how much they’re going to pay me for my help, so I figured I should look nice.”  
“I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but you do look nice,” the smile on Sam’s face was warm and genuine, “although I doubt that he’ll be able to smell the cologne you have on.”  
Freddie touched the back of his right hand to her forehead and pulled it back with a smirk, “You don’t feel like you have a fever,” he looked into her eyes, not noticing the faint little look of excitement that welled up in her as he did so, “you don’t look high or drunk, so I have to assume that aliens have abducted the real Sam and replaced her with a clone, because Sam Puckett would never give Fredward Benson a compliment.”  
Sam rolled her eyes and grinned as she playfully pushed at him, surprised when her hand contacted his chest and he didn’t budge an inch, and at the way a charge of energy seemed to pass between them, “Take me to your leader, nub.”  
“He lives in a dark secluded room somewhere in the basement of the building,” Freddie raised an eyebrow, “the kind of place where people can make-out undisturbed,” a wicked and mischievous grin on his face.  
Sam felt the heat rush throughout her entire body at Freddie’s flirty remarks, “Wh… what? Did you just hit on me dork?”  
“Nay, nay princess, I just make a comment,” the hint of something sexual passed between them as he stepped closer to her, “did you want me too?”  
Sam stood for a second unsure of how to or what to say, her mind suddenly reeling, thoughts colliding with feelings and desires, like a wreck on the freeway, leaving her speechless.  
She was saved from her emotions and the need to answer him by the opening of the elevator doors. Carly stepped out and almost ran Freddie down as she walked into him, lost in her own confused thoughts.  
“Shit, I’m sorry Freddie,” Carly apologized as she bounced off of him.  
“Walk much Carl’s,” Sam, finally out of her mental stupor, laughed, “Looks like Dale put the mojo on you buttercup. Got you walking into people looking all “moony” faced.”  
“Wh… uh… oh well yeah I guess so,” she laughed nervously, images of Tom Trent and her making love still dancing in her head.

Sam and Freddie stared at each other, both aware of how strange Carly was acting, and forgot about themselves and turned their attention toward Carly.  
“Carly,” Freddie bent down to look Carly in the eyes, “is everything ok? Did Dale do something to you or say something out of line?”  
“No … no he didn’t do anything out of line,” Carly said, but the strange look still covered her face.  
“Carl’s you look really troubled,” Sam shot Freddie a concerned look and Freddie shrugged his shoulders helplessly, “Did Lewbert say something mean to you, because I’ll buttersock the shit out of him if he did.”  
“No, Lewbert had a stroke or something,” Carly was now agitated and almost belligerent with her friend, “for the last FUCKING time, NOTHING IS WRONG, DROP IT!”  
Freddie whistled under his breath and gave Sam a worried look as he used his right to make a cutting motion at his neck.  
Sam nodded, she understood the gesture and thought he was right, let it go for now and try again later, when she was calm.  
“Ok Carl’s,” Sam tried to sound carefree, “I can’t believe I’m asking this, but Will asked ne out tonight and I’d like you to help me spruce up. I don’t want to look frumpy and all “tomboy” like. I see that mind turning Benson and just put the brakes on it before…”  
“You spank me, slap me, or just jump my bones?” his grin quickly brought the heat back to Sam’s body and left her speechless, “goodnight ladies,” he winked at Sam stepped on the elevator, leaving both girls just staring at him in disbelief.   
“What the hell was that all about?” Carly asked the stunned Sam, who just staring at Freddie as the doors closed and the elevator started its way down, “Did he just flirt with you or something?”  
Sam stared at the elevator doors as if waiting for Freddie or at least some kind of explanation to emerge from it.  
Now it was Carly’s turn to try to snap Sam out of the trance she seemed to be in, “Yo, Sam, Sam, BLONDIE,” she shouted.  
Sam finally shook herself out of the trance with Carly’s last shout, “What Carl’s?”  
“I said did Freddie just flirt with you or what? I mean the look you two passed back and forth could cook an entire pig,” Carly was relieved to have something to get her mind off Trent and the very dangerous and wrongheaded thoughts he caused her, “You can’t tell me that something isn’t going on between the two of you Sam, I just saw it.”  
Sam shook her head, more to get her mind back on track than to answer Carly, “Carl’s we were just talking and cutting up. I told you that we are just friends, I love Freddie… I mean I don’t love Freddie. See now you got me all confused. Are you gonna help me get ready for my date or not?”  
“Of course I’m going to help you, Carly put her arm around her friend and smiled, some of her torment about her feelings for Trent lifting at the thought of getting to help Sam look girly, “just how “unfrumpy” do you want to get?”  
.  
.  
Freddie leaned against the back wall of the elevator and banged his head into the wall, softly of course.  
“What the hell was that shit and where did that come from?” he asked of the empty car, “I’ve got a married woman running around in my head, I’m seeing a very sweet girl who wants me to love her and that I should feel something for but I don’t, and now I start flirting with one of my friends, one of my friends who is dating someone else,” he banged his head back several more times, “what the hell is happening to me? I’m not a player, but I sure as shit seem to be doing just that. When the hell did everything get so complicated and off track?”  
The door opened and he looked at his watch, seeing he was going to be five minutes early, and walked toward seven b.  
‘Don’t do anything stupid, be polite, keep your eyes above the neckline, think about your mother when you start to notice how beautiful Melissa is, ask tons of questions about Charlie so you remember the epic ass kicking you could get if you get all hormonal and stupid, and above all else, be a gentleman and show her that you were raised right,’ he thought as he stood in front of the door and knocked softly.  
“Coming,” an angel’s voice called from the other side of the door.  
‘Don’t act all fanboy and goofy,’ he said as the sweetness of her voice caused him to feel a rush of heat, ‘remember, be a gentleman.’  
He heard the locks and chain being moved and when the door opened all his pre-knock pep talk seemed to fly right out of his mind and he became a six year old in love with his teacher. Melissa wore a light blue blouse that was tasteful, but it failed to hide her curves, and a light blue skirt that went to the knees but still showed her long shapely legs. Her gray-green eyes sparkled as her luminous smile melted his heart just as surely as heat melts ice. With his briefcase tool box in hand, he had the fleeting image of a fifties sit-com husband coming home from work and being greeted by a woman who looked perfect. For a second he expected her to hug and kiss him and then hand him a martini.  
“Fred, wow you look very nice,” she smiled and stepped back to let him enter before closing the door.  
“Thank you Mrs. Langford,” he was proud that some of his earlier pep talk had finally kicked in.  
“Now Fred I’m only twenty-three, not forty-three, so call me Melissa or you’re going to make me feel old,” she smiled and motioned for him to sit down.  
He remained standing, case in front of him to hide his very aroused “friend”, “I’ll remember that, Melissa. Can I have a look at the computer and stuff?”  
“Oh sure,” she directed him to the first room off the hallway from the living room.  
As they walked he noticed that a lot of furniture had been delivered, “Wow I guess the furniture got here today?”  
“Yes, Thank God, I slept on one of Charlie’s cots he brought home when we got married,” she put a hand in the small of her back, “I don’t see how those guys sleep on those things. Medieval torture devices couldn’t have been as bad as that thing.”  
Freddie laughed as they walked into what was the second bedroom. The room had two small bookshelves, a well worn but nice looking recliner, a gun case, several framed pictures of the couple from over the years, and an old fashioned roll top desk that looked like it was still new.  
Freddie walked up to it with a smile on his face and whistled as he ran his hand over the closed accordion roll top, “Oh man, this is fantastic! My great-grandfather had on just like this. I loved it as a kid. It had all these drawers and hidden storage spaces. I’d sit on his knee and he’d tell me stories and show me all this neat stuff that he had collected over the years. I remember he had this one place he opened that had a silver flask that he always filled with some kind of alcohol that I can’t remember now, and his cigarette case with Camel unfiltered in it,” he wasn’t even aware that he had drifted off into his own past, “He had a battered old typewriter sitting inside of it and he would work on his “novel” as he called it. It was some western about a botched train robbery and the manhunt after it. He fell asleep one night when I was ten or eleven and dropped his cigarette. The house burned down killing him and burning the desk up.”  
He could almost smell the alcohol and cigarette smoke and then snapped out of the past and became aware that he had a few tears rolling down his face.  
“I’m sorry,” he said, “I haven’t seen one of these in a long time and it just brought these old memories of my great-grandfather back.”  
Melissa gave Freddie a chaste hug and told him, “It’s alright, I understand. This desk was Charlie’s grand-fathers and he feels the same way about it. Can you set the computer on the desk?”  
Freddie wiped his eyes and smiled at her, blushing because of the hug, “Sure, it’ll just take about two minutes.”  
“That’s great,” she smiled, “I’ll go check on dinner. Just yell if you need something”  
He wanted to say yes dear so bad, but forced it down, “I will Mrs. Um… I mean Melissa.”  
“Nice save,” she grinned, “you’re learning.”  
As she left the room he tried his best not to watch, but hormones got the better of him and he did watch. He could help but be turned on by the way her ass swished and how perfect it looked.  
‘Christ,’ he thought, ‘what do I have to do to get over this crush? Wonder if saltpeter really works?’  
He sat the case of tools on the floor and rolled open the desk. It looked just like his great-grandfather’s desk. That thought allowed him to forget about the crush and return to the task he was here for, setting up the computer. As he worked he absent mindedly played the stories his great-grandfather had told to him and as the memories played out in his head he found some comfort and release from his conflicted emotions and he began to sing quietly to himself.  
.  
“Damn it Carly,” Sam shouted over the roar of the hairdryer, “I just didn’t want to look frumpy. That doesn’t mean I want to look like a hooker.”  
Carly stepped back, eyeliner in hand and looked Sam over, like an artist turning a critical eye to their canvas, “Oh Sam just chill and trust me. When I’m done with you his eyes are going to bulge out. So where are you two going?”  
“Don’t know,” Sam said, “He didn’t tell me.”  
“You really are into him aren’t you?” Carly said as she stepped in front of Sam and began to apply a thin layer of blush to Sam’s cheeks.  
“He’s so different than the guys I’ve dated before,” Sam couldn’t help but smile, “we have this rhythm with each other. I’ve never had that before and it’s really kind of cool. Plus the fact that he is one great kisser, so yeah, I guess I am into him. We might be able to get something going here if things keep going so well.”  
“Aw, Sam’s in love,” Carly grinned and looked at Sam like she was her mother.  
“I’m not in love Shay,” Sam snapped, “I just really like the guy and well… I just want something better than what I’ve had before, you know.”  
“I think that’s great Sam,” Carly was now working on Sam’s nails, “Will seems to be really nice and you two look great together. What do you think of Tara?”  
“She’s really sweet, in a non-disgusting way,” Sam tried to sit still as Carly worked on her nails, “She’s head over heels for Freddie isn’t she?”  
“Totally, I just hope she’s not going to get hurt,” Carly said in-between blowing on Sam’s nails, “Got any ideas who his big crush is?”  
“I’ve been wondering about that myself,” Sam was bouncing her right leg, impatiently wanting to end the make-over session, “You saw him in the hall, all dressed up and claiming he’s just going to hook up that ladies computer. He told me it was because they would be chatting with her husband about pay for the work he’s gonna be doing and he wanted to look nice. I let it go but I bet you he’s going to meet someone after he’s done, I mean why else would he dress up, have cologne on if he’s not meet someone?”  
“You think he’s crushing on the woman?”  
“The dork lusting after an older woman, I just don’t see it Carly. Although the more I think about it, you might just be right,” Sam tried to stand and Carly gently pushed her back down, “My… the nubs got the hot’s for the Marine’s wife.”  
Carly was one of maybe three people in the world who could read Sam Puckett and her buried emotions and as she talked to her friend she once again was struck more by what wasn’t said than what was. Sam could lie to everyone, even herself, and lie well, but not to Carly. They had been friends far too long and had been through too much together for Sam to pull the wool over Carly’s eyes. Despite Will and how she really did like him, Carly could tell that Freddie was a burr under Sam’s saddle. They had something that no one could understand going on between them, even themselves.  
The bedrock of iCarly and the friendship of all three of them had been Carly at first. Carly was Sam’s only friend and she had hated Freddie because he was moving in on her territory. Freddie had a massive crush on Carly and Sam wasted no chance to belittle and humiliate him, so he hated her right back. Carly was the peacemaker. Sometime after Sam and Freddie kissed small changes began to take place, nothing that could be seen by the naked eye, just little moments off the radar. Suddenly they could be left alone and not fight, Sam would lean against Freddie when they would watch movies, as long as no one noticed or said anything, they did bits for iCarly without her, they would even go to movies together, Freddie paid of course, and that was when Carly noticed the shift in their “game”, and it was also when Sam and Freddie began to look at each other differently. Over the past year and a half Carly had noticed the quick little side glances, the one second over normal looks at each other, and most of all the telepathy that had grown between them. Carly sometimes thought that she could see the thoughts going back and forth between the two of them. It was almost spooky sometimes the way they knew what the other was thinking and the way they could finish each other’s sentences.  
“Maybe we ought to do a little snooping,” Carly’s eyes lit up as she spoke about her favorite past time, “You know, see just what’s going on?”  
“Carly Shay, you mean to tell me that you want us to spend part of our valuable summer vacation time on spying on Freddie instead of on the two great guys that we have met?” Sam shook her head at her brunette friend.  
Carly had a look of guilt on her face, but with a sheepish grin shook her head, “Yeah, it’s what I do best. You don’t have to if you don’t want’ a Sam.”  
“Oh no, I want’ a, I just wanted to clarify what we are doing,” Sam smiled and chuckled as Carly smiled and stood up.  
“There, all done,” she stepped back and looked at Sam with the critical eye of a painter surveying her latest masterpiece, “He’ll never know what hit him.”  
She spun Sam around and stepped back to let her see herself in the huge dressing table mirror. Sam was floored by what she saw. Carly had really done a good job and yet she still looked like she had very little makeup on at all. Her naturally curly hair had been straightened just a little, the eye shadow made her blue eyes standout, and the purple spaghetti strapped dress showed off her feminine side but didn’t make her look all girly-girl or slutty.  
‘I can’t wait for Freddie… Will, Will to see me,’ she thought as she looked herself over, ‘Damn it, what the hell is that? Get out of my head nub! I like Will, a lot, and I think we could have something good going on here, so why is it that Freddie keeps popping up in my head? Why do I feel like if Carly hadn’t of come up when she did I would have kissed him with all my might? Why am I looking at myself and imagining his arms wrapping around me and melting into his a…?’  
“Sam, SAM, Samantha,” Carly practically screamed in her ear, pulling her out of her head and the flight of fancy she had lost herself in.  
“Hum… what Carly?” she finally turned and spoke to her friend.  
“I said, how do you like it?” Carly laughed in her head at her blonde friend’s reaction to the reflection in the mirror.  
“I can’t believe that it’s me that I’m looking at,” Sam was telling the truth as she looked at herself, but she was still chasing the Freddie’s ghost out of her mind, and she wanted, needed to talk to someone about her feelings and knew that she couldn’t talk to Carly about it because Carly would try to make it into something it wasn’t.  
“Shay, you have outdone yourself,” Sam smiled at her and going against everything she believed in, she gave her friend a big hug.  
Carly was taken aback by the hug and had a confused smile on her bewildered face, “Ok, someone is really wrapped up in the man in her life, because Sam Puckett almost never hugs.”  
“Cool it Shay, I don’t want to have to butter sock ya’ after fine job you did on me.”  
Carly suddenly realized that Sam wasn’t thinking about Will and broke out into a smile, ‘She’s in love. She’s not crushing on anyone; she’s head over heels in love, WITH FREDDIE! She doesn’t quite see it yet, but she is in love with Freddie, and I think he may be falling for her. This is going to need a scorecard to keep up with everything before it’s over. Sam and Freddie, Freddie and Sam, this is epic!’  
“Carly, you have that look in your eye, the look that leads to all kinds of trouble,” Sam was suddenly sure that things were about to get out of hand, “Carl’s, I mean it whatever just ran through your mind stop it and stop it now. No good can come of it. Whatever your devious little mind has cooked up just let it go.”  
“Sam, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” an almost evil grin spread across the brunette’s face giving her a Faustian like demeanor that sent a chill of dread up Sam’s spine, “I’m just thinking how beautiful you look and how easy it’s going to be to catch your true loves heart.”  
“True love?” Sam stared at her friend knowing that she was up to something, “Carly, I like Will very much, but true love is really overreaching at this point don’t you think?”  
“I bet you’ll catch more than Will’s eyes before the night is through,” the smile on her face and gleam in Carly’s eyes told Sam that nothing was going to stop her and whatever plan had hatched in her fangirl little mind. All Sam could hope for was that it wouldn’t blow up in Carly’s or her face.   
.  
Tara was helping her father at the grill as she prepared to eat with her family in the backyard. Her father was a master of grilling out and this was the first of the year. Despite being a pain in the ass when she and Freddie were on the porch earlier, Tara loved her father very much. He was the only man, until Freddie, who had ever told her she was beautiful. He had spent many nights hugging her and giving her pep talks after some jackass had proved how cool he was by belittling her about her weight or her looks. Her father always found a way to make her smile and laugh. She, like most girls, had a kind of crush on her father. Not a sick or dirty crush, just the crush of a daughter who knew that her father was a man among men.  
She stood beside him as he flipped the burgers on the grill with the practiced flair of a man who had done it for years. He was very serious about his grilling, he thought of it as an art form. You had to know just when to flip a burger, too soon and the meat stuck to the grill, too late and you cooked away the natural juices and were left with small “coal” burgers, burnt and devoid of true taste. Ribs required extra care and slow even cooking and the application of the sauce at just the right time and in even amounts or once again you would a very tasteless piece of over cooked meat. Corn, baked potatoes, and other vegetables had to be wrapped in aluminum foil and place high above the flames and allowed to cook at a slow even pace, sometimes twenty to thirty minutes before the meat was started cooking.  
“So,” her father said as he removed another hamburger patty from the plate that Tara was holding and carefully placing it on the grill, “this young man, Freddie, care to share anything about him, I mean since I did find him with his tongue down your throat, teddy bear,” he grinned at her as he said it.  
“Daddy,” Tara gave her father a slight push as her face turned the color of the raw burgers still on the plate she held, “I can’t believe you said that. I have to be honest with you, he was going to kiss my cheek and I, and well I kind of turned at the last second and kissed him. Please don’t be mad at me or him, please.”  
Tara’s father chuckled to himself and shook his head, “I could never be mad at you teddy bear and I could never be mad at a boy who puts this,” he took his free hand and touched her cheek, “moony smile on my teddy bear’s face. I love this smile and I like seeing you all giddy. Tell me about this remarkable young man.”  
She still had part of a blush on her face and the smile that wouldn’t go away as she gushed to her father, “his name is Freddie Benson and he along with his two friends, Sam Puckett and Carly Shay do this web show called iCarly. It’s funny and just the best. Freddie is the tech producer of the show and it was Carly’s apartment that I went to the party at last night. Anyway, Linda, Sally, and I met this guy BradWheeler and he works as an intern for the show and he introduced us to Freddie and Gibby, a guy who performs on the show sometimes. Anyway, Freddie came right over in front of me and stood while we were introduced and just smiled at me. Linda and Sally started toward him but he took my hand and asked me to dance. Oh daddy, he talked to me and told me funny stories and told me I was beautiful, me, beautiful. His friends and their dates joined us, after we danced, at the food table and we all just talked and laughed and had the best time. No one talked about my weight and Freddie’s two friends treated me just like one of the girls, like they had known me forever. I felt really special for once and they insisted that I join them at the beach today."  
Henry Rollins looked at the glow his daughter had all around her as she told him about her night and the young man she had met. He had always tried to tell her how beautiful and special she was, but he knew that it would an outside source to make her believe it. He hadn’t even met this boy yet but he already knew that he was going to like him. If he could see the true beauty of his teddy bear he was welcome in his home anytime.  
“He took me to the beach and the girls dates and Freddie whistled at me when I took off my robe before we went swimming,” the glare from her smile blinded her father for a second, “at me. Oh dad he’s so sweet and kind and gentle, he told me that he has this crush on this older woman and that as much as he likes me, his head just isn’t in a place for us to be a steady couple right now, but he does like me and wants to spend time with me. He even wants to take me out tomorrow night. I really, really like him and I think even with his crush, he likes me. He’s so cute daddy, he doesn’t want to hurt me and worries that he’s not being fair to me. I told him I’ll be fine and I told him I’m gonna do my best to make him fall in love with me.”  
Henry stared at his daughter, a woman, no longer a little girl, standing in front of him with all this confidence and joy oozing from her pores and felt a twinge of jealousy that this young man had finally done what he himself had tried for years to do and had failed. The young man had turned his shy, quiet little teddy bear into a very confident woman. His little caterpillar had suddenly become a beautiful butterfly and soon she would be flying away from him and as proud as he was of her, he was also heartbroken that the little girl who used to ride on his shoulders when they went places was no longer his little girl.  
‘I’m not ready to let her go,’ he thought, ‘I’m not ready to be the second man in her life.’  
He pulled her into a hug as he took another hamburger from the plate and carefully placed it away from the almost done burgers and proceeded to carefully flip the almost done ones.  
“I can’t wait to meet this remarkable young man who seems to have taken part of my teddy bears heart.”  
He used the excuse that the smoke from the grill had caused the few tears that collected in the corner of his eyes as he took up the first of the done burgers and they walked toward the picnic table to join his wife and daughter and eat.  
.  
Tara went to her room after the meal and started texting her friends Linda and Sally. Within minutes the airwaves were a blistering white hot mass of text, re-text, and re-re-text. Questions about the beach, the swim, games that were played, what Sam and Carly talked to her about, what they ate, where they ate, what Freddie looked like without a shirt, could she tell how big he was through his swimsuit, did he touch her, did she touch him, did they kiss, when, where, how, where his hands were during the kiss, was tongue involved, did he break the kiss first or did she, how long was the kiss, did he kiss well, and a million other questions that girls ask about after a date.  
Tara regretted the answer she gave to the next question. She knew she had made a mistake the moment she sent the text. The problem with the cyber world was that once something is out there it stayed out there was there was no such thing as taking it back.  
Lucky Linda: Did he ask u out again?  
Sexy Sally: Yeah did he?  
Tara01: Yes. Tomorrow night at 6:30  
As soon as she hit send she knew what was coming and hated herself for it. When the new text tone sounded and she saw Linda’s name she cringed inside:  
Lucky Linda: Fantastic! Sally and I will get Brad and Gibby to take us out and we can triple date!!  
‘Shit,’ Tara mentally kicked herself in the ass, ‘why didn’t I keep my big mouth shut? I love my friends, but damn it I wanted to spend some alone time with Freddie. Linda is going to be the queen bee of the night and ruin an otherwise great evening.’  
A feeling of helplessness crept over her, Linda wasn’t a person who took no for an answer and Tara wasn’t someone who would say no to a friend. She smiled as she figured a way to at least salvage some of the evening, and began to type:  
Tara01: We could meet at the movies; say 9:00 or so?  
Lucky Linda: Great. We can go see “Chernobyl Diaries”, it’ll give us a chance to hang all over the guys and maybe even a chance to make-out and even feel the “package”. That will really help us on our goal.  
Tara rolled her eyes as she read the text, ‘If she does anything to mess up what is happening between me and Freddie, I won’t use Sam’s butter sock, I’ll use Tara’s bowling ball sock on her,’ she laughed at the idea.  
There was a light rapping on her door and she said to come in. Her father came in and sat on the edge of her bed and stared at the young woman that had once been his little girl.  
“I came to say goodnight teddy bear,” he bent over and kissed the top of her head, “I gotta get up early tomorrow and finish this job I started today. I don’t know if you want to, but why don’t you invite your young man to join us for dinner? I’ve got some steaks and ribs marinating and you two could eat here before you go out. I promise not to embarrass you in front of him.”  
“I’ll ask him,” she smiled at him, “You’ll love him daddy, I just know it.”  
“I’ll never completely love any boy who takes my teddy bear away, but if you like him, I’ll probably LIKE him,” he was amazed at the one day transformation of his “teddy bear”, from the shy little girl always afraid to draw attention to herself because of her size, to the woman excited about bring a boy home to meet him, “the fact that he’s made you this happy carries a lot of weight with me.”  
He stood up and walked toward the door and turned around when he heard her pounding away furiously on her cellphone and shook his head and laughed to himself, ‘Now I have to start meeting boyfriends, shit. When did I get old?’ he wondered to himself as he closed the door to his very socially connected daughter and bemoaned his lost youth.

.  
“You are all hooked up and ready to go,” Freddie stepped out of the second bedroom; phone in hand, dialing Carly’s number so he could test the set up by having a video chat with her. He stopped everything he was doing and inhaled deeply. The smell of wonderful, and editable, food made his salvia glands begin to produce copious amounts of salvia as he walked into the kitchen.  
“That’s …” Melissa started to say before Freddie held up his hand and took another deep almost sensual breath and walked toward the stove, hand still in the air.  
He had a look of almost pure lust as his eyes scanned the stove and he breathed in the scent that generated from the various pots and pans. Melissa had to fight to keep from laughing as Fred’s face twisted into the same kind of lustful gaze that Charlie gave her sometimes.  
He picked up the lid of the first pot; his eyes rolling back in his head as he deeply inhaled, “Cabbage, fresh not canned,” he lifted the lid of a second pot and unconsciously licked his lips, “Real homemade mashed potatoes, not instant,” he lifted the third lid and grinned, “macaroni and cheese,” he lifted the last lid, “fresh corn on the cob, not frozen,” he then bent down and looked in the oven, “oh my God, cornbread and meatloaf with,” he turned to Melissa with the look of a man who was about to ravage the woman he loves, “is that those crispy canned onions on top?”  
Melissa was now about to lose her battle of not laughing, so she just nodded yes.  
Freddie suddenly and almost sensuously let out a low guttural moan and was forced to grab a chair back to keep from sliding to the floor.  
Melissa began to laugh, “You want a cigarette after that?”  
‘Shit, all you had to do was not do anything stupid or embarrassing,’ he thought to himself, ‘but noo, you go and practically bust a nut sniffing dinner. Might as well go to the park and start flashing people while you’re at it.’  
“I’m so sorry,” he finally managed to get out before the absurdity of what he had done set in on him and he began to chuckle himself, “I told you, my mom is so over protecting that tofu and pretty much any barely editable foods are all she cooks. I have to hide food at Carly’s just so I can have a few good meals during the week.”  
“Come on Fred, it can’t be that bad.”  
“Seaweed and fiber casserole, tofu ice cream, tofu meatless meatloaf, and soy bean paste, trust me, it’s that bad.”  
They both began to laugh as Melissa went to work setting the food on the table and Freddie called Carly as he went back into the bedroom and tested the web cam and the hook-up on the computer.  
After the test, Freddie stepped back into the kitchen as Melissa set the last of the food on the table. He pulled her chair out for her and waited for her to get seated before taking the chair opposite from her.She was about to serve him the meatloaf when she noticed him bowing his head. She stopped and lowered her head as well.  
“We thank you lord for the food you have provided for us and hope we can take the nurturance it provides to do the things you would have us do. We ask that you bless our friends and family and we ask that you take special care and watch over Charlie Langford and all our military overseas and bring them back home safe to their loved ones. As always Lord, your will not ours. We ask these things in your son’s name, Amen”  
Freddie raised his head and noticed that Melissa had a small tear rolling down her face. She looked back at him and smiled, “Thank you Fred, that meant a lot to me. It was very sweet.”  
She had him hand her his plate and spooned some of the cabbage and mac and cheese on his plate and passed it back to him. He got some of the mashed potatoes, an ear of corn, and a piece of cornbread and a large slab of the meatloaf.  
Melissa couldn’t help but remember something her grandmother had told he as a child, “You can tell how good the meal is by the amount of talking that goes on around the table, the quieter the table is the better the cooking is”, and she guessed her cooking must be good because Fred did a minimum of talk. He did, however, make the sounds of someone who hadn’t eaten good food in months.  
“So what time are you two supposed to chat?” he asked as he helped himself to another piece of cornbread and meatloaf.  
“About seven o’clock local time,” she smiled as she watched him eat yet another forkful of the meatloaf and reach out to spoon more mashed potatoes onto his plate, “I can’t remember if it’s yesterday or tomorrow in Afghanistan. I can’t keep it straight in my head.”  
“Afghanistan is like eleven and a half hours ahead of us, I think,” Freddie said in-between bites of food, “this is the best meal I’ve had in a long, long time. I mean it, it really is the best,” he grinned and took a bite of corn.  
“Why thank you sir,” she bowed her head at him, “I love to cook, but with Charlie gone, I don’t know, my hearts just not in it. I really wasn’t sure the meal would be fit to eat.”  
Freddie sat his fork down on his plate and looked at her with a very serious stare, “Well I feel that it’s my duty to help out a Marine who is serving our country, so I would be willing to let you cook for me so that you could stay in practice for when he gets home.”  
He tried not to grin, but he couldn’t help it. They both began to laugh and finally somewhere in the laugh, Freddie was able to hide at least for a while his feelings for Melissa and just enjoy the company of a lady who was lonely and scared for her husband. He helped her do the dishes, a chore he had always secretly loved doing, and she talked about Charlie. She told of how they met and how she fell in love with him. She told him the story of the time her father came within fifteen seconds of finding them in her bed when they were seniors in high school. He laughed as she showed him a picture of Charlie, as they set down in the living room, and told of how he had crawled under her bed as her daddy sat down to have a long forty minute chat about her boyfriend and where they were headed. She explained that her father was a heavy set man and that he drove the springs of the bed down so far on Charlie that he had them imprinted on his ass for a week. He was very touched by the way she seemed to wrap her memories of her husband around her like a security blanket a child keeps with them where ever they go to hold back the monsters in the dark. He wondered if he would ever find that kind of love himself and he found himself liking Charlie before ever meeting him. His crush still wasn’t gone, if anything it was stronger, but it was tempered now with the knowledge of how strong she seemed to love her husband, and he knew he could be around her and not lust after her the whole time.  
‘Shit, I just made a new friend, maybe two,’ he thought as her watched her shine as she told yet another story about the love of her life, ‘I think this summer is going to be one for the record books.’  
At seven they both walked back to the second bedroom and Melissa sat down and typed in the address and waited for the connection to be made. After a few minutes a window opened in the top left-hand corner of the screen and she clicked it to full screen. There was a low hum for a second and then a very happy face appeared on screen.  
Charlie had a severe buzz cut, his head looking like three days’ worth beard growth, and dark brown almost black eyes. He looked much younger than his age, Freddie thought, like a sixteen year old instead of a twenty-three year old combat vet. It looked light behind him so Freddie figured that it must be morning or afternoon where he was. A smile that split his face from ear to ear formed as he spoke.  
“Hey baby, God you look good,” Charlie seemed to reach out and touch the screen, “and I take it that this young man is the person I have to thank for setting it up so we can chat?”  
“I’m so glad to see and hear you baby,” Melissa seemed to radiate light and heat from her body as she talked to her husband, “and yes this is the young man we talked about on the phone yesterday,” she turned and waved for Freddie to walk forward some, “Charlie this is Fred Benson.”  
“Fred I wish I could shake your hand and thank in in person, but Uncle Sam doesn’t see it that way,” he seemed to fill the whole room with his vibrato and presence, “so I’ll just have to say this, thank you. You have no idea what it means to me to be able to see as well as hear her. You may have saved my sanity, and the offer to help with the apartment really makes me feel good. I hate that Melissa is in the city by herself, but I feel like I got a wingman backing me up. We talked about it and we can give you one hundred and fifty dollars a week, I’m sorry we can’t give you more now, but maybe later we can shoot a little more your way.”  
“That’s too much, I couldn’t take that much from you guys,” Freddie shook his head.  
“It’s not enough,” Charlie was now shaking his head, “You have no clue what it means for me to know I’ve got someone there to helping my little red and watching over her while I’m away.”  
“I promise I’ll do my best to hold the fort down for you till you get back,” Freddie snapped him a salute and felt embarrassed and shrugged his shoulders at the Marine.  
Charlie grinned and chuckled, “Wishing you had that one back?’  
“Can I trust that you two will never let that “incident” ever leave this room?” Freddie smiled and tried to force the red from his cheeks.  
“I promise Fred, cross my heart,” Melissa made the crossing sign.  
“You have my word also Fred,” Charlie said as he made a motion with his hand and stepped away from the camera for a second to reveal at least ten Marines, all with their hands over their hearts as they shouted out in unison, “We promise Fred!”  
The laughter from the Marines in the computer tent filled the room and despite being the butt of the joke Freddie joined them, Charlie, and Melissa in a wave of laughter that shrank the continents for a few seconds and made the whole group family.  
“Listen Fred, before I run you and these guys off so I can talk to little red by myself,” Charlie took his place in front of the camera again, “This is a stupid question, but do you have a web-cam on your computer?”  
“I sure do,” Freddie shook his head yes.  
“Good,” Charlie had a look of mischief on his face, “leave your i.p. address and I’d like to chat with you in private. Wingman stuff.”  
Freddie wrote the information down and left it by the keyboard. Melissa walked him to the door, placing her arms around his shoulders and giving him a kiss on the cheek, “Thank you so much,” she whispered in his ear as she released him from the hug.  
Suddenly it was all back, the rush of hormones through his body, the feeling that his stomach had dropped out from under him, the sweaty palms, and the urge to kiss her slowly and to meld their bodies into one and lose himself in her.  
She smiled and closed the door, leaving him staring at the peep hole, guilt and shame once again hanging from his neck like an albatross. He snapped out of the trance, sighed heavily while shaking his head. He needed to think and try to sort his feelings out, and he knew of only one place where he could do that. He stopped by the apartment and grabbed his Pear pod and dock and headed for the one spot in the universe that he could control and find peace, the fire escape.  
.  
At six-fifty-five Will knocked on Carly’s door. He had gone home and taken a shower and changed clothes. He had also spent the time thinking about and reliving the kiss he had shared with Sam in the car. It had been magical and he very much wanted, needed another. He had found her easy to talk with and very funny, not to mention gorgeous. Using knowledge from Freddie, he had planned what he hoped would be a great first date, dinner at “Pete’s Pork Pail”, seeing the movie “Chernobyl Diaries”, and with any luck maybe another kiss good night. He wanted to take his time with Sam and do things right, not rush it and kill off something that might be very special.  
The door opened and for a split second he was speechless. The person before him was Sam, but not a Sam he had seen. The purple dress, the low heals, the make-up, and the way her hair was done left him with no words, he just looked at her and suddenly began to grin.  
“My God,” he said when he found his voice, “you look great, I mean beautiful.”  
Sam felt the heat on her face, “Thanks, you look nice to.”  
Will had a button-up white shirt and black pants and he thanked her in return.  
“So would you care to go to dinner now?” he asked.  
“I’m so ready,” she said, taking the arm he offered her, “Where to?”  
“You’ll just have to wait and see,” he felt just a bit taller as they walked toward the elevator.  
.  
“Well we’re rolling the senior homecoming float house,” Will manages to get out between laughs, “and this friend of mine Barry is the one who drove us in his van, because we could all fit, anyway we’re rolling the yard and had no clue that the people inside were watching us and calling to police. Barry, who had customized his van so he could shoot bottle rockets from inside to fire out like torpedoes, decides to place an m-eighty in the mail box. He’s a bit of an explosives junkie, has made this long fuse. So as he’s making his way back to the van the police pull onto the street, a dead end mind you, and flip the lights and siren. Well we all scatter like dust in the wind leaving poor Barry there holding the bag. He starts talking to them and he’s sweating bullets because he knows the m-eighty is burning as they speak and wants to finish up and get out before it blows. He yes sir’s and no sir’s them, as polite as he can be and they let him off with a warning and tell him to bring his friends to clean the mess up at seven in the morning. He nods and just as he closes the door the m-eighty goes off and blows the mailbox all to hell. Barry just got out handed them the keys and spread his hands on the hood of the van waiting to be frisked.”  
Sam roared with laughter as Will finished his story, “So what did they do to him?”  
“Six months’ probation and one hundred and ten hours of community service, all to be done over the summer.”  
Sam whistled softly, “Damn, that sucks.”  
“Almost his exact words,” Will laughed.  
Sam and Will talked about everything under the sun as they ate, laughing and having the best of times. As they left the restaurant, heading to the car, Will offered and Sam accepted his hand and they walked in silence to the car.  
At the theater, he bought two tickets to “Chernobyl Diaries” and one of the “Earth Mover” buckets of popcorn and two large sodas.  
They talked and laughed quietly till the previews started and then settled in to watch the movie. Somewhere around the midway point of the movie their hands touched in the popcorn bucket and they smiled at one another and Will draped his arm over Sam’s shoulder and squeezed just a touch. This brought another smile to Sam’s face and she thought to herself, ‘Damn this is nice nub.’  
Sam was lucky that at the same instance on screen a jolting horror sting happened, so it didn’t look out of place her sudden jumping and pulling away.  
‘What the hell was that?’ she thought as she tried to steady herself, ‘Why does Freddie keep hopping into my head?’  
The rest of the date went fine and they both had a good time. Sam was able to set aside the thought of Freddie and when they got back to Bushwell at a little after ten-thirty she was back to thinking how amazing Will was and how much fun she had had.  
Spencer was not in the lobby, he’d gone off duty at ten o’clock, so it was the two of them alone. Will stood at the elevator door waiting with her for the car to arrive holding her hand a smile on his face. He had had a very good time and felt something he hadn’t expected to feel. He felt close to Sam and had enjoyed the ease with which they had gotten along.  
The elevator arrived and as she started to step in he leaned in and gave her a goodnight kiss. This time she licked at his bottom lip and he opened his mouth and let her tongue in. He felt the fireworks go off in his head and wanted to take the back of her head and give free rein to the passion he felt from the kiss, but didn’t, remembering that he wanted to take this slow and get it right.  
They broke apart and both sighed, “Sam I’ve got stuff with my folks tomorrow, but would you like to do something Monday?” he asked.  
Sam smiled as she hit the button for the eighth floor and said, “Sure give me a call and let me know,” she said as the door closed. As the elevator began to move up the smile faltered just a touch as one lone word and face popped into her mind for a fraction of a second, ‘Freddie,’ and as soon as it came it left again, leaving in its wake a load of questions and feelings she had no way of dealing with and no frame of reference to put the conflicting thoughts into.  
‘When the hell did everything get so fucked up?’ she thought as she leaned her head back against the elevator wall.  
.  
Carly heard Sam and Will leave as she got ready for Dale to pick her up. She had finally managed to cage and store the feelings she had for Tom and had managed to find her happy place again. She was excited about Dale and excited about the idea of her little pet project to see just what was going on with her two best friends and this non-relation relationship that they had going on.  
She had just finished putting on her lip gloss when someone knocked on the door. She bounded down the steps two at a time and stopped herself at the bottom, ‘Don’t need to rush Carly, don’t want to appear desperate to the very cute boy.’  
She checked her hair and make-up one more time and then opened the door. She felt a catch in her throat and a mad rush of heat throughout her body. Dale stood in front of her in a very nice polo shirt and slacks, three small pink roses in his hand and a smile on his face that said she was very special in his eyes and it triggered something deep down in her that no boy had ever triggered before, she felt special, the kind of special that only her father and brother had made her feel. She glowed as she looked at him and knew that in his eyes at least she meant something very special.  
With a thick French accent Dale bowed and then took Carly’s hand, “Wee, wee madam, I come from zee Kasbah in search of zee rare beauty named Carly. I come with zee gifts and an offer to take ‘er to one of zee finest bistros in zhis city and then take ‘er to the theater to see a film of ‘er choice.”  
Carly laughed as Dale walked in and handed her the flowers. She sniffed the roses and leaned in and gave him a kiss, “These are beautiful. I can’t remember the last time someone other than my family ever brought me flowers. Give me a minute to put these in water and I’ll be ready to go, ok?”  
“Sounds like a plan,” Dale said as he looked around the room. He hadn’t had a chance to do that earlier because of the whole “batshit” fiasco. He was amazed at the size of the first floor and wondered what the floor upstairs looked like. The “sculptures” around the apartment were a wide variety of styles and made of what looked like common household items. They really weren’t his taste, but then his knowledge of art consisted of Archie and Spider-man comics, but he imagined there were people who would pay good money to buy the stuff, he just wasn’t sure why.  
Carly came out of the kitchen with a vase that held her three roses, “I’m ready when you are,” she said as she touched his arm.  
“My lady your chariot awaits you,” he offered her his arm, which she took, “and by that I mean a vintage, old as hell, Volkswagen with bondo and primer proudly displayed at various spots around the vehicle.”  
Carly laughed and moved ever so closer to him, his arm dropping hers and sliding around her waist in a natural and very relaxed manner. Carly leaned into his body so that they touched and gave a contented sigh as they walked to the elevator.  
Dale had been truthful about his “bug”, and it produced more than a few stares as they pulled up to “Demo’s”, a very high end restaurant that offered valet parking.  
“Watch this, I saw it in a movie once,” Dale smiled as he got out.  
He handed the valet a ten dollar bill and said, “Park it near the front if you don’t mind,” he turned to the car, “this shit happened the last time I was here.”  
With no further word, he took Carly’s hand and walked into the restaurant with a calm and confidant smile and wink at her as they walked.  
“I love doing that,” is all that he said.  
.  
The entire dinner was like something out of a romance movie to Carly. They talked and laughed about everything under the sun. Dale admitted to being the one who put super glue on every page of Brigg’s text book and to the fact that he loved line dancing.  
Little by little the noise of the crowd began to fade along with the clear distinction of the people themselves. Stories of great-granddad and stories about fathers danced between the stories of first crushes, kisses, worst date, strangest date, favorite foods, movies, books, shows, and a million other tidbits this that didn’t matter separately, but when choreographed together became the waltz of attraction. At its worst, the stories and anecdotes were simple date killers, but when the chemistry and stories were right they became the glue that bonded two people together and allowed love to bloom.  
By the time they left the restaurant they walked much closer and seemed; to Carly at least, blending together so that their two shadows became one. It made her stomach fill with butterflies and her body soar like she had wings. The only thing on her mind was Dale and just how much she had come to enjoy being with him.  
They went to see “The Lucky One”, holding hands the whole time, Carly’s head on his shoulder. If someone asked them later what the movie was about, neither of them could tell you a thing about it. After the lights came up they were startled out of a kiss by the ushers asking them to leave so the next showing could be seated.  
Slightly embarrassed, but in no caring, they got up and left. The walk to the “bondomobile” was quiet and very slow. Dale opened the door for Carly and as she got in she lightly kissed his lips and smiled. As he walked around to get into the “bug”, he whistled some tune he’d heard before, but could put no lyrics to, and wondered if there had ever been a night like this one before.  
His answer was no.  
.  
Freddie had been outside for over an hour, turning things over in his mind, trying to find something solid to hold on to. Everything he was feeling was against everything that he believed morally and yet he couldn’t stop the feelings. He toyed with the idea that perhaps he was insane or at least having a nervous breakdown, but logic dictated that if you were clearheaded enough to think it, then you weren’t.  
He felt like someone had opened the door of his world and fired a shotgun blast of feelings, hormones, and temptation point blank into his chest and head. It was just after ten-thirty that he decided to go in, get some sleep (if possible) and he would seek advice from the one person who he had always been able to talk with and get straight answers from.  
He gathered his things and with a sigh of many unanswered questions stepped back into the building.  
.  
Sam turned over in her mind why Freddie kept popping into her head. It wasn’t like it was all the time, but it was at the most inappropriate times. She was losing her ability to fend it off and it scared her. Here she had finally found this great and together guy and pictures of Freddie started to pop up out of nowhere. She raised her head as the bell dinged and she stepped out of the elevator at ten-thirty-five.  
.  
Collision   
.   
Sam caught Freddie’s eyes as he stepped through the window, and he caught hers as she stepped out of the elevator.  
Neither of them knew it or even understood it, but in the millisecond that light refracts in the corona and a picture is sent to the brain, something deep and primordial passed between the two, and a seed was planted.  
“Fredrow, what the hell are up skulking around on the fire escape at this time of night?” Sam asked with a smile.  
“Wow,” Freddie decided it was worth getting killed or beaten to look Sam up and down and make a comment, “I’ve never seen anyone as beautiful as you look right now Puckett, I… just wow.”  
Sam was genuinely touched and shocked at Freddie’s statement. She knew she was blushing and she knew that that one statement from him meant more to her than anything anyone else had said to her in her entire life. No voice came, no thought popped into her mind of what to say, and for a moment, if not for all time, Sam Puckett was content with her life and where she was.  
“Oh my God,” Freddie smirked at her, his eyes never leaving hers, “I have stunned Princess Puckett into silence. Surely hell has indeed frozen over.”  
As the grin broke across Freddie’s face, Sam felt her own grin creep up on her and thoughts of the night seemed to file themselves away on their own.  
Finally something crossed her mind and she found a voice to speak, “Careful nub, people might hear you and think you’ve gone nuts.”  
“I think the fact that I hang around with you proves that I’m nuts,” he smiled.  
“Touché,” Sam said as she walked toward him, “and thanks. Now what’s wrong, why are you looking so glum chum?”  
“Glum chum,” he laughed, “did Will take you to the fifties or something. That may be the cheesiest line I’ve ever heard you say.”  
“See, just what I’ve been saying all these years, your nubbyness wears off on people,” she was now closer to him and looking up, “and you’re evading the question, what’s got you so uptight that you need to escape to the fire escape sanctuary? You only go out there when you’re really fired up, so tell mama what’s going on in that nubby little brain of yours,” she tapped her index finger on his forehead.  
Shaking his head, Freddie gave her his patented half grin, “That’s the real problem princess; I don’t know what’s going on. I just suddenly feel like everything is moving at light speed and coming at me too fast.”  
“Well I can sympathize with you on that one,” they walked towards the door to Freddie’s apartment.  
“What could you possibly be conflicted about?” he slid the key in the lock and opened the door and they both walked in, “I mean looked to me like you and Will were hitting it off pretty well this afternoon.”  
“Oh we did and we are, it just seems like things are more complicated than I thought they would be,” they walked up the steps and into Freddie’s room.  
“Complicated? Complicated like how? Is he married, dating someone else, really a girl dressed as a guy, gay, into S&M, wants you to call him “daddy”, likes to dress like a woman, into animals, wants you to suck his toes, wants you to talk dirty to him, make him eat dog food, wants you to pretend to be the dirty librarian, wants to watch you pee, I mean come on princess, complicated covers quite a bit of ground here,” Freddie finally finished as he and Sam both fell backwards onto his bed in a fit of laughterthat shook the entire bed. For several seconds it was a toss-up as to who would pass out because of lack of oxygen and then it settled down to the occasional titter of a laugh.  
Wiping tears from their eyes, Sam and Freddie sat up and then stood. Volumes were passed between the two of them in the silence as they held each other’s gaze just a second longer than was normal. A smile crept across their faces and then Freddie walked closer to her. She noticed how sensually and confidently he walked, and suddenly became aware that more than anything, even more than she had wanted Will to do earlier, she wanted Freddie to kiss her, and more importantly, she wanted to kiss him back.  
He stood in front of her and bent down, his lips inches from her right ear, his warm breath sending chills down her spine, and whispered, “I didn’t even get to use my most creative lines like twatwaffle, nutsuck, coochiestank, tallywacker, cockcheese, or twatitch. Now those are funny.”  
Sam’s eyes snapped open and she was vaguely disappointed that she hadn’t been kissed, but the names and the comical grin on Freddie’s face made her start laughing again.  
“Damnit nub, how’s a girl supposed to be all moody and angst-ridden when you keep her laughing?” she playfully shoved him away as they walked back down the stairs and toward the front door.  
“I thought I was the one who was angst-ridden and moody,” he closed the front door and without a thought between them about it, his arm slipped around her shoulder and her arm snaked around his waist as they walked back to the elevator.  
“No I said you had something on your mind, not that you were moody or angst-ridden,” she unconsciously hit the down button as she rubbed her hand on his side as he made circles on her right shoulder with his index finger, completely unaware that they were doing it, “Did things not go well with the Marine?”  
“No that went quite well actually,” he looked down at her as they walked into the open door of the elevator, “he wants to pay me a hundred and fifty dollars a week for helpingMelissa out.”  
“Whoa, that’s some serious change,” Sam whistled quietly, “Melissa?”  
“She got all upset at me calling her Mrs. Langford, said it made her feel old,” he pleased himself at how well he was hiding the fact that he was crushing on Melissa from Sam, “Anyway, I told them it was too much, but he said it wasn’t enough and he hoped to do more when he gets home in a few months. He’s really pretty cool and he has this amazing old roll top desk that looks just like this one my great-grand-dad had. The thing is so freaking cool.”  
“Chilllax Fredloaf, don’t bust-a-nut on momma over some old desk,” Sam couldn’t help but grin at the animated way Freddie was talking about some old hunk of wood, and how adorable he was while doing it, “Do you need a cigarette after that description there stud?”  
“Melissa asked me the same thing when I was sniffing dinner.”  
“You “sniffed” dinner?” Sam couldn’t help but give him a quizzical and a smile.  
“Don’t laugh,” he smiled back, “You know how and what my mom cooks. Well Melissa fixed this meatloaf with those caned fried onions on top, cabbage, potatoes, and all kinds of good stuff and it smelled and tasted great. Anyway, when I walked into the kitchen and got a good whiff of the food I turned into Pavlov’s dog and kind of zoned out, I mean it was real food not some kind of paste or weird ass health food shit, it was honest to God food!”  
The door opened, and while still holding on to each other, they walked out of the building and into the quiet streets. Traffic lights were just beginning to switch over to flashing lights as they crossed the street at the crosswalk in front of the building. The only sounds besides their voices were the sounds of a city winding down, cars running through puddles made by street cleaners, the hum of neon from hundreds of signs, the occasional bark of a dog or meow of a cat, snores of street people asleep on benches or in alleys, and the sounds of couples walking and talking about the things couples talk about when they are strolling late at night.  
After walking for several minutes and talking about nothing in particular Sam, head leaning slightly against Freddie’s arm, asked, “Where are we walking to?”  
“I thought you knew,” he said with a faint chuckle, “but I guess since we’ve walked this far we might as well get a late burger at “Steakburger” by “The Groovy Smoothie”, want to?”  
“Hi, I’m Sam, have we met?” she said sarcastically.  
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” he squeezed her shoulder.  
As they rounded the corner they were met by a small brown and white beagle puppy that promptly started wagging its tail and following them. They stopped and Sam bent down and held her hand low so the dog could see she meant it no harm and so it could sniff her and get her scent.  
After it got her scent, the dog’s tail began to wag so fast and so hard that they both worried its hips would dislocate. It then rolled over on its back, paws in the air, as if to say, “You may scratch my tummy now”.  
Sam, in a most unSam like display, squatted down and began to rub his belly, now most obviously a boy, and baby talk to it, “Who’s the sweetest boy, huh? Are you the sweetest boy? Yes you are the sweetest little boy, yes you are.”  
She suddenly became aware of what she was doing and who stood looking down at her. With a shy look, she stared at Freddie and grinned when he squatted down himself and began to rub on the puppy tummy also, “And the world will never know,” he grinned back and playfully nudged her with his arm.  
As they rubbed the puppy they heard his little stomach growl and Sam gently picked him up, as she and Freddie stood, “Aw, are you hungry little guy?”  
The puppy kissed, and licked, her face and Freddie’s hand before settling down and easing up on Sam’s shoulder. That was the second that changed everything for the three of them, although none of them knew it yet. Sam looked at Freddie and did something she had never done before, she asked, “Can we take him with us and get him something to eat?”  
“Well we aren’t going to leave him out here to starve,” he scratched the puppy’s head and it yawned, “if he can stay awake that is.”  
Sam beamed at Freddie and did something else she rarely ever did; she hugged Freddie and said, “Thanks Freddie.”  
“A thank you, a hug, and you used my name, not some portion of it, but my real name,” with no thought at all, his arm slipped around her shoulder again and this time she leaned into him so that their sides touched as they walked, “If I had known that, I’d of gotten you a puppy sooner.”  
“Steakburger” as it turned out had three iCarly fans working the late-night shift and they allowed them to bring the puppy in with them. Freddie ordered two double cheeseburger and fries for himself and Sam, along with two large “peppy cola’s”, and a glass of water, a dollar hamburger, and small fries for “Mutt”, so christened by Sam, and they sat in a back booth, just the three of them.  
“Mutt”, about the size of Freddie’s open hand, stood on the table eating the torn into little pieces of his hamburger and his fries very slowly, considering how hungry he was. He would stop to lap at the water once in a while, and to observe the two humans that were being kind to him, tail wagging the whole time.  
The two of them sat and talked about nothing at all, laughing, playing with the dog, and having fun, completely unaware that to anyone who might pass by or to even the dog, then looked like a couple very much in love.  
.  
Just as Freddie and Sam adopted the puppy, Dale pulled into the parking lot of Bushwell and turned off the engine. The two of them sat there, staring out the windshield, in the awkward last stage of a date, the good night.  
“So, uh… I really had a really nic… um… great time Carly,” Dale felt all the confidence he had earlier in the evening desert him now, “I was wondering, I mean I know you probably wouldn’t want to, I mean I understand, but I was wondering if maybe, you know, if you wanted to, I don’t know, I was thinking that maybe we might, but you don’t have to, go…”  
Carly couldn’t help but smile at how clumsily verbally Dale had become in the span of five minutes, “My curfew is eleven, you want to try to write down what you want to say?”  
They both laughed and suddenly Dale unfroze and found his tongue and brain working again, “I go to see my Great-granddad every Sunday and what I was trying to ask is if you would like to come with me tomorrow.”  
“That sounds great, what time?” Carly smiled at him and noticed he looked like a child on Christmas day.  
“You will, oh man that’s great,” he leaned over and kissed her.  
Within two seconds the kiss turned into a very heated make-out session, complete with moans, grunts, and groans. After several minutes they broke away for air, “Um… well I better get you inside before I forget my manners,” Dale looked at her with an intensity she had never seen before.  
He got out and walked around to open her door. As she watched him walk she for the first time with any boy she had ever dated, wanted him to touch her and kiss her, and to make love to her. It shocked her at how natural the feeling was in her, like she had felt it before, but she knew she hadn’t.  
As he opened the door and she got out and stood up, she impulsively gave him another kiss, this time running her tongue along his bottom lip. This time the kiss was more carnal than the one before and Carly wasn’t at all shy about how she felt.  
This time when they broke apart they were both breathing heavy and then their modesty seemed to kick in. Dale put his arm around her shoulder and the two of them walked to the lobby of the building in silence.   
Carly pushed the up button and turned to Dale, “I really did have a great time tonight, well the whole day really,” she touched his face with her hand, “call me tomorrow about going to see your great-grandfather.”  
Feeling unsure if he could hold himself back, Dale placed a kiss on Carly’s forehead and spoke softly as he looked into her eyes, “Thank you for a wonderful day and evening Carly.”  
The rest of their goodnight was soundless and passed only between them eye to eye. The looks promised much more to come and were welcomed by both.  
As Carly got on the elevator and turned to wave at Dale as the door closed, she began to hum a tune from a love song she liked and wondered if Dale might just be the one she had been waiting for.  
.  
After Freddie left, Melissa sat in front of the computer looking at Charlie as he told her about his day. He looked thin and tanned, but the smile on his face is what set her heart aflame. It was the smile he reserved for her alone, the one that melted her defenses and won fights because it trumped her anger. It had been weeks since she had seen him and the sight of him lifted her spirits to the heavens. She couldn’t imagine how wives during World War II had survived without video chatting.   
“You haven’t heard a word I’ve said have you?” he laughed at her, his eyes crinkling up in the corners in a way that made him look like a little boy again.  
“No darling,” she smiled at him, “I was just looking at you. I could and intend to spend the rest of my life looking at that face,” her tone lowered and a slight haze of moisture formed over her eyes, “I love every crease, line, dimple, and feature of that face my love. When I die I want your picture on the lid of my coffin, so that I can look at you for eternity.”  
She reached out her hand and stroked the screen of the computer, willing her touch through the lines and wires and across time and space to him on the other side of the world. Her smile was brighter than any light made by man or God at that moment.  
“Three more months’ baby,” he returned the gesture, the look of a man totally in love with his wife radiating across the miles back at her, “and we’re done with all this different continents shit, and we can get on with filling that second bedroom.”  
She raised her eyebrow and smirked at him sexily, “Why Mr. Langford, I do believe you’re making advances toward me?”  
She had used her southern drawl, the one that made him lose control when they were alone, and he felt a heat that wasn’t desert born course through him, “If we had a private tent here, I’d cybersex you like no tomorrow young lady. You just save that accent for my first day back.”  
“You mean your first night back,” she smiled.  
His grin went from ear to ear, “Nope, I said what I meant, and I meant what I said!”  
It was Melissa’s turn to feel the heat and she knew that if they didn’t get control of themselves the conversion would turn into something X-rated, “Charlie, we need to rein in this talk baby or the FCC is gonna shut us down.”  
“Yes dear,” he said in mock defeat, “but I do want at least twelve kids. I want them to all look like you, and I’ll bring home some weapons so when my girls get of age I can meet the boys on the porch with gun in hand.”  
“Twelve,” Melissa laughed and shook her head, “You’ll have to meet them because after twelve I won’t be able to walk. You want twelve girls, you don’t want any boys?”  
“You want a boy?”  
“I want three boys,” she smiled at him, and for a moment they were in the room together and the distance between them was gone, “and I want all of them to look and be just like you because the world needs more men like you and I want to give them to it.”  
They stared at one another for a few seconds, the silence and look speaking for them and then they turned to other matters, “So I think Fred is going to be a big help to me babe, especially now that the furniture is here and all the stuff is ready to go for Monday. Oh, I got to tell you something that Fred did that was so sweet, he said grace before we ate and he asked that God watch over you and all the others serving our country. I was so touched by that.”  
“He seems like a great kid,” Charlie nodded, “and I think he’s got a little crush on you. Can’t say that I blame him on that, I know I sure do.”  
“I’ve kind of noticed that one babe,” she grinned and shook her red hair, “he thinks he’s keeping it hidden, but really, not so much.”  
“Well just be easy with him red, we boys act tough, but first loves are very hard on us,” Charlie spoke with a knowledge born experience, “Mrs. Thompson broke my heart in tenth grade when she announced she was going to have a baby. She was going to be my wife before you took over my brain. Just let him down easy, you’ve got to be tough act to get over, I know I can’t.”  
“With kid gloves baby, with kid gloves,” she assured him, “He almost cried over the desk, his Great-grand-father had one just like it, that they lost in a fire or something, and when he sees’ your “Galaxy Wars” action figure collection he’s gonna freak!”  
“I thought I detected the “source” flowing through him,” Charlie laughed, “maybe you shouldn’t unpack the “Star Wars” stuff yet.”  
They both laughed and let the silence settle between them again. They both leaned in and kissed the webcam’s and pulled back, not wanting the chat to end, but knowing it had to, “I hate to say goodbye red, but other guys are waiting,” his voice cracked just a little as he spoke.  
“I know baby,” her voice was choked by the tears she wouldn’t let fall in front of him, “You keep your head down and don’t do anything foolish, ok? I’ve got a very cold spot next to me in bed that I need you to warm.”  
“God I love you so much red,” Charlie whispered as he blew her a kiss, “What the hell did I ever do to deserve you?”  
“You loved me,” she touched the screen as one single tear rolled down her face.  
“Always red, always,” he smiled and the picture faded as the connection was broken.  
She sat there for a moment, her hand on the screen, feeling the warmth, imagining it was from Charlie’s hand, and let the tears come that she had fought back before. She wondered if people really understood what a sacrifice the whole family of a military person made so that the job could be done.  
They walked hand in hand through fields of wild flowers, talking of the future, before lying down and making love under the bright sun as birds chirped a song for them, and Melissa spoke Charlie’s name out loud to the empty room as the dream continued.  
.  
Spencer sat on the couch watching some strange old horror movie about a can of radioactive waste that fell off a truck near a beach and created some kind of monsters that was killing the surfers on the beach. He stood as the commercial for the pillow shaped like a woman’s butt came on, he had ordered one last week and they said it was natures perfect pillow, and walked to the peephole in the door. Carly had been home for hours now and was upstairs asleep, but Sam was still out and it was now well past twelve-thirty and he was worried and just a little mad. Sam was like a sister to him and he didn’t appreciate her being out so late without at least a call. He intended to have a talk with her when she got home.  
“Home,” he said out loud and laughed.  
He wondered if Sam felt like this was her home, as he looked at the apartment. She spent more time here than her own and he sure as hell had the grocery bills to prove that. He wondered if she were asked if she would say he was a brother to her or just a friend.  
“She may never speak to me again after I get done chewing her ass for being so late,” he said to no one as he walked back and plopped down on the couch as the movie started again, a beach girl being snatched up by some zipper backed monster, and looked at his watch yet again.  
.  
As they left “Steakburger”, Sam and Freddie thanked the three workers for letting Muttcome in and eat, and then walked out into the night. Freddie looked at his watch and whistled very softly as Mutt wiggled in his arms and crawled onto his shoulder with a sigh and looking for all the world like he was hugging Freddie, he stretched out on his broad shoulder and rested, his eyes closing.  
“I think he likes you,” Sam smiled as she ran a soothing hand over the dogs back, “he has good taste.”  
Sam didn’t know why she said it, but she had never met anything more in her life than she did that. She found her arm around his waist again and that she was leaning into Freddie’s right side, her right hand on Mutt’s back. The dog’s breathing was comforting to her, he was half asleep, and she knew he was at peace on Freddie’s shoulder.  
“It’s twelve o’clock,” Freddie whispered, so as not to disturb Mutt, “we better head to Pallmart and get this little dude a collar, some food, wee-wee pads, shampoo, and a toy or two.”  
Sam grinned from ear to ear and bounced, gently so Mutt wasn’t disturbed, and whispered excitedly, “We’re gonna keep him?”  
“Well we can’t leave our child out here alone can we?” he smiled at her and she felt a lump form in her throat.  
“Oh he’s our “child” now?” she slipped a finger into one of his belt loops and tugged him closer to her.  
“You got it,” is all he said, his right arm settling on her shoulder as they walked.  
Mutt, through half-lidded eyes, yawned and settled into a peaceful and light sleep, his new mom and dad making him feel safe and protected for the first time in his young life. He knew he would live and die for these two humans and they for him.  
.  
Despite her reputation, even Sam wasn’t one to just be out walking at midnight on the city streets, yet here she was, walking, holding on to a man, it stunned her that somewhere along the way Freddie had grown into one, walking down the city streets without a care in the world. As much as she liked Will, she wouldn’t be walking down the street with him at the moment, but with Freddie she had no fears or worries. The idea that Mutt was now their “child” left a large part of her mind in giddy confusion, and her with a very sticky problem to work through and no idea how.  
She was very much into Will, she still wanted to kiss him again, but something was happening between herself and Freddie and she was powerless to fight it. More to the point, she didn’t want to fight it one little bit.  
As they walked into “Pallmart” a greeter, neither of them knew they had greeters that late at night, came up to them smile firmly in place, “I’m sorry but you can’t bring your dog in the store, store rules,” the man, sixty if he was a day, said in a friendly tone, his breath smelling of pork rinds and root beer.  
Freddie’s face flashed with a pained and angry expression as he brought Mutt down into his arms, holding him like a baby, as his eyes slit open for a moment and then closed again with a small grunt, “How dare you call our child a dog,” Freddie began, his indignant rant an octave or so higher than it had to be, so everyone could hear, “Mutt can’t help his physical handicaps and appearance, but to call my son a dog, how dare you. Where is the manager? I want to see the manager right now!”  
Sam buried her face in Freddie’s chest, giving the appearance of crying over the insult to her child, in truth biting Freddie’s shirt to keep from laughing out loud at his “fly by the seat of his pants” bluff he was running on the greeter. She didn’t know he had it in him and besides being tickled and proud of him, she found herself enjoying his smell and wanting much more than a hug from him.  
Everyone at the front of the store as well as everyone within earshot was now focused on the three people standing at the front doors. The greeter’s smile had dissolved into a look of pure confusion and fear combined, “Sir I assure you that I meant…”  
“Oh I know, people never “mean any harm”, but when Mutt gets old enough to understand what people are saying do you think “I meant no harm” is going to make him feel better or sooth his hurt feelings and bruised psyche?” Freddie laid the guilt on thick and almost slipped once and laughed, but got himself back under control.  
Sam, with great effort pulled herself away from Freddie’s chest, the tears of laughter giving her the wounded and crying look of a mother hurt by her sons insult, and with as straight a face as she could muster and her most indigent tone spoke to Freddie, “Come on honey, let’s just go to “Bullseye” and do our shopping!”  
“What seems to be the problem here,” a young, no more than twenty to twenty-five year old pimpled faced, man asked, walking up with fear in his eyes as he spoke to the greeter, “Terry?”  
“Well Terry here called my son,” Sam was now in full blown mother’s rage mode, “called my son a dog and refused us entry to this store is the problem, and the solution is we’re going somewhere else to shop that doesn’t discriminate against a helpless child’s handicap.”  
“Mam, I want to assure you that “Pallmart” does not now nor will we ever discriminate against anyone,” the young man fearfully spoke in as loud a tone as he could so everyone could hear, “Please accept my deepest apologies for any misunderstanding that may have been had between you and Terry or this store. Please accept this,” he produced a fifty dollar gift card and handed it to Sam, “and shop tonight on “Pallmart” as my apology.”  
“Thank you sir, you are a kind soul, thank you,” Sam and Freddie walked into the store as Terry and the manager, who never gave his name, began to talk quietly.  
They sprinted to the pet aisle, just making it around the shelf before they broke down into fits of laughter.  
When she was able to breath, Sam gave Freddie a slight, not enough to wake Mutt, still lying in Freddie’s arms, but enough for him to notice, “I can’t believe you did that Freddie, not only am I damned impressed that you did it, but I’m damned impressed you did it so well. I didn’t know you were so damned devious. I’m stunned and I now turn over my crown as world’s best scam-artist over to you and bow in your presents. I am humbled by your skill.”  
“Careful princess, next thing you know you’ll want to kiss me,” he smirked at her, his eyes locked on hers, both stepping closer towards each other, lips mere inches apart, when the overhead speaker announced that they needed stockers in the back to unload a truck.  
The couple stared at each other, everything else forgotten but each other, and then Mutt stirred, yawned and gave a small yelp, announcing that he wanted petting and attention. They blushed at each other and then turned to the little bundle of fur and began to love on him, much to his pleasure.  
Someone had left an empty shopping cart on the aisle so they took it and began to shop. They found a purple collar and leash for Mutt and three toys that caught his eye. After getting a food and water bowl, they got a bag of puppy food and several cans of food as well they found a nice sized bed for him to sleep on and two packages of wee-wee pads as well. They notice that the aisle had a machine that for five dollars would make a name tag for your dog and made one with Mutt’s name, giving his address as Bushwell care of Freddie’s apartment.  
“No way in hell crazy …I mean your mom is going to let you keep a dog, especially one off the street,” Sam shook her head.  
“I think you’d be surprised,” he grinned, “Mom has kind of turned a corner on things, besides she really loves dogs.”  
“Really?”  
“Really, she loves them,” his eyes had a twinkle that Sam found beguiling, “besides who wouldn’t love this face?” he held Mutt up beside his own face, the tail wagging and hitting his neck.  
‘Who wouldn’t love both those faces,’ Sam thought as her goofy grin returned.  
Sam gave the card to Freddie as they checked out and she held the dog. The manager hung around the perimeter of the register while Freddie set the items on belt. He turned a bright shade of red when he saw the items and even redder when he saw Freddie pay with the card. He walked over and then saw Mutt in Sam’s arms and exploded.  
“One damn minute,” he turned to Freddie, who had the bags in his hands, “that’s not a baby, it’s a goddamn dog.”  
Sam mumbled something that the manager couldn’t understand and he turned to her, “What?”  
She mumbled again and this time he leaned further in, “What did you say?”  
Freddie was already past her, heading to the door, “I said,” she spoke loudly, “What did the five fingers say to the face?”  
“How the hell should I know and what has that got to do with this fleabag being in MY store,” he was now almost blue with rage.  
“Everything,” she smiled as she shifted Mutt, who growled at the man yelling at his human, “the five fingers said to the face,” she brought her right hand back and as she opened her palm and brought it in contact with his face said what she was doing, “SLAP!”  
She took off as the manager, she noticed his name tag said Woody, stood stunned for a few seconds, unsure of what just happened.  
When he finally snapped out of his stupor, he gave chase across the parking lot after the two of them. When he caught up with them he couldn’t speak at all because he was gasping for breath. He bent over hands on his knees sucking in huge amounts of air before he stood up.  
Sam looked at him, “Sorry about that but we had to get you out of the store. We’re time travelers from the future and we came to warn you.”  
Confused, he looked at her and all he could do was say, “What?”  
“We have brought you a message from the future,” Freddie looked at Sam, unable to hide his smirk, because he had fallen for this one himself when he was twelve.  
“What is it?” Woody asked hopeless lost at all that was happening.  
“The warning is,” open palm bitch slap two, this one knocking him down, “Never call my dog a fleabag or I’ll bitch slap you.”  
Sam and Freddie walked off leaving Woody rubbing his face and trying to figure out what had just happen. The sound of the couple’s laughter echoed all around him.  
.  
With his new collar and name tag in place, they walked Mutt back to Bushwell. He pranced like he was master of the world and went pee and doddle, Sam laughed at Freddie calling it that, and after they cleaned it up, he walked into Bushwell like he had lived there his whole life.  
Sam picked him up and held him as they rode up to the eighth floor, her arm around Freddie’s waist again. She stood in Freddie’s room as he sat up the wee-wee pads, food and water bowls, and the bed. When he was done, she sat Mutt down and he got a drink of water, looked at them, tail wagging, and walked onto his new bed and scratched it a few times, then lay down and fell right to sleep.  
They slipped out of Freddie’s room and he walked her over to Carly’s door.  
“Someone sure made himself right at home,” she smiled.  
“Like he’d lived here his whole life,” Freddie laughed, “Well princess it’s been a blast but it’s almost two in the morning and we better get some sleep.”  
Without thinking, Sam stood on her toes and kissed Freddie’s cheek, “I’ve had the best time of my life tonight,” she whispered.  
He hugged her and kissed the top of her head, “Ditto, night princess,” he turned and went inside his apartment, locked the door, and pounded his head on the doorjamb, “Crap.”  
.  
Sam stared at his door, just looking, and thought, ‘Crap! Now what am I gonna do? It’s like I’m living on “90210” or something.”  
.  
As she opened the door quietly and slipped in, Spencer popped out from behind the door and scared the shit out of her, which got him a judo flip to the floor.  
“Damnit Spencer, you almost gave me a heart attack,” she whispered shouted.  
“I can taste my spleen,” Spencer groaned as he stood up, his right hand rubbing at the small of his back, “Listen Sam I know I’m not family really, but I love you, and not in that creepy internet Spam pervert way, but like a sister. I worry about you and … well… while you’re staying here Sam I kind of need you to follow my curfew rule of twelve o’clock or at least call me when you’re gonna be late ok,” he looked down at her, both hands on her shoulders.  
Sam was touched by Spencer’s words and ducked her head down a little bit, “I will Spence, from now on. Sorry if I worried you.”  
“It’s alright kido, I never told you before,” he hugged her and smiled, “So did you have as much fun on your first date as you did your second one tonight?” he had a glint in his eye as he asked.  
“Spencer I only had one date tonight, and yes Will and I had a good time,” she told him.  
“Ok, so what did you and Freddie do then?” he loved how easy he was able to push her into his little verbal trap.  
“We talked, walked around, and went out to eat, that’s all,” she grinned, “nothing more.”  
“You walked around, talked, went out to eat, for almost four hours,” his smile was so big that his ears almost disappeared, “in my day we called that a date. It’s ok Sam, I mean it’s not like you and Will are a couple yet or anything, you date whoever you want.”  
“Spencer, Freddie and I didn’t have a date,” she spoke slower this time in hopes that he would get it.  
“Sam, do you know how you get into law school?” he took another road in the conversation to try to pull her back to his point.  
“You go to law school I guess,” she answered confused.  
“You get into law school by applying for it after you graduate from college,” he told her, “and you have to have some intelligence to do that, so despite the fact I act like a dumbass most of the time, I’m not stupid. I just found out that acting that way makes people not expect so much of you. Dad wouldn’t let me be guardian of Carly if I was a total screw-up, would he?”  
“No I guess not,” Sam said.  
“So as an educated man, I know you had a date with Freddie whether or not you know it,” he smiled at her as she sat down heavily on the couch at the statement, “and like it or not honey, you got a serious case of the hots for Freddie going on.”  
Sam mouth dropped open, and she suddenly felt the cold hard hand of reality slap her in the face, “Oh shit, you’re right Spence, how the hell did this happen? When did it happen? Damnit, I like Will Spencer, I really do, so how can I be fangirling over the nub?”  
“Welcome to the world of a teenage girl Sam,” he smiled and patted her on the shoulder, “Carly does this every week, hell sometimes three guys at a time. Don’t worry about it, your heart will steer you in the right direction, till then just hold on and enjoy the ride kido. I’m going to bed now, you get some sleep.”  
He hugged her and went into his bedroom and shut the door. Sam sat on the couch looking at nothing and seeing everything. She replayed the night in her head and found she could remember everything down to the way Freddie’s shoes were tied, but she couldn’t even remember what she and Will talked about. One word kept bouncing around her brain like one of those superballs that bounce forever, destroying any other thought but one:  
. ‘BENSON’  
.  
.  
I had a ball with this chapter. I hope you liked it. Next chapter we will learn more secrets about Freddie and go on his date with Tara and her friends.  
Please Review!


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